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Show Dice' Y IS COPYRIGHT J LJ- CHAPTER IX Continued. "Senor Stanway." It was Torre speaking coolly, his voice steady and Indifferent. "1 should like a word Willi you." "Have I time to bandy words with you?" cried tlio ntnclior angrily. "This last thing you have done Is insnully, Torre. You have gone too far." "Or not far enough! Which Is it?" His voice was stem now, and rang with deliance and triumph. Ho was sure of himself, of his position. "I told you," lie ran on, his cheeks Hushed now, his voice ringing out still more clearly in the hush in the room, "I warned you what I should do. I nsked twenty thousand dollars last night and you refused to make terms. You were u fool ! "Now I ask fifty thousand! And T shall get It. I don't hide behind uorus; 1 am not afraid of the open! I play my game of dice where till men ran see tire ivory cubes roll out of the box : "It is I I wlio have caused the dis-appcar:inre dis-appcar:inre of the Senor lie la (luerra. h is 1 who have caused the senorita Teresa to be taken away from under your very eyes. And I do not deny it. For the game is mine!" "Yon wouldn't dare " began Stan-way. Stan-way. Torre's short laugh cut into his swill words. "Dare! Don't I dare everything to stand up this way before you and tell you what I have done,, what I am going to do? Mother 'of 'God, seuor, I dare anything !" There was bravado in the words, arrogance, a haughty disdain of the men who held him prisoner, who looked into his face with hard, hungry hun-gry eyes, who thirsted openly for his blood. He saw the look, say the tightening of lean brown hands upon dagger hilt and revolver and he laughed at them. "l!y Heaven!" muttered Stanway half aloud, "he's a man anyway !" He whirled and went out, calling his last short orders savagely. Gau-eho Gau-eho was already at the patio, calling I list the horses were ready, that several sev-eral of the men had already ridden 'southward after the hammering hoof-bents. hoof-bents. Stauway flung himself into the saddle, teeth set, face white, heart pounding madly. Then he and Gnucho raced away upon the second invasion of a land at war with itself, where every man must carry his own hope in his own hand. They rode across drying streams and through sun-baked arroyos, along dry, barren ridges, through little green valleys, across long wastes where the coyote hunted. And at night they came back, worn out by Willi He and Gaucho Raced Away. the merciless grind of the day upon spent horses whose legs trembled pitifully pit-ifully under them. And they had found what they found before nothing. noth-ing. Stanway did not stop to eat or to rest. Ho drank thirstily at the leaping leap-ing fountain In the patio, and went immediately to the house and to the room which was now an improvised hospital ward for the accommodation of I'edro and Celestino. lie found Tedro conscious, very-white very-white and weak from the blood which he had lost. A doctor had come from La Panza and had gone, leaving bis simple directions aud simpler medicines. Pedro would live.. Here a knife had bit deep and had cost Pedro much blood, but by fortune for-tune and a fraction of an inch no vital point had been reached. Celestino, as white and more weak than Pedro, lay very still, not having once regained -consciousness. He might live, for Celestino had a wonderful won-derful store of health and vitality in that great frume of his. The doctor would come again, tonight or early tomorrow. "Pedro," asked Stanway, with a quick glance at the other bed and then coming to Pedro's side, "how are tilings with you?" "Not so bad, senor," Tedro answered an-swered faintly. "The senorita?" "We have not found her yet," Stanway Stan-way admitted regretfully. "Rut we shall find her soon, Pedro. Did you see the men who attacked you? Do you know where they came from? We had sentinels out al) night. They swore that no men came from across the border." Fedro shook his head. "I was asleep, senor. Then I heard Celestino call out. I thought he was dreaming. I sat up, half asleep, you know, senor. Then I saw. There were three men, I think. Perhaps four. I don't know. One struck poor Celestino as he sat up, and another sprang at him. But then they were upon me too, and 1 heard uie senorita seno-rita cry out, and they struck me over the head and put a knife into me here." "And then they rushed into the se-norita's se-norita's room?" "It is so hard to know what happened, hap-pened, senor. I don't think that they went into the senorita's room. When I woke my eyes went first to her door. It is always the first thing which I see when I wake. It was closed. "I think that it was locked. I tell you I heard her call out while Celestino Celes-tino was being struck, before they made everything go black for me. There were other men in there. "I suppose they came through the balcony. But these men where did they go? How did they come in?" His voice sank to a trembling whisper. whis-per. "Senor, can it be that some of the servants are traitors? That they haye let these men in and let them go?" . "That is what I hare been thinking think-ing all day, Pedro. But you mustn't talk too much this time. I'll come to see you again." "Wait a 'minule, senor. There is one other thing." Stanway came back swiftly. "What is it?" he demanded sharply, seeing a light in Pedro's eyes which had not been in them, ftefore. "It is something which I found. It fell from the hand of one of the men when Celestino struct back at him. I had them bring it to me here. I have not talked about it; I have waited for you." His hand was fumbling, under his blanket, and he brought a key, very heavy and old, made rudely of iron and, like the old keys of the mission days, some eight inches long. "I am not sure," Pedro whispered, his eyes feverishly bright. "You can tell. Call for Josefa. She cares for the senor's rooms. Have her go there with you. Let her see if anything is missing. She 'will know ; she has cared for his rooms for twenty years. Will you let me know, senor? Here is the key." A sudden hope leaped up into Stan-way's Stan-way's heart as his hand closed about the old key, a hope which in no way could he explain. If this were the key which unlocked the place where the old master yes, and the young mistress had been hidden, what then? He was as far as ever from knowing where was the lock which this key fitted. And yet Pedro's words Josefa "I'll let you know, Pedro !" he called back from the door. And he was gone, walking swiftly through the house, asking for the old serving woman. CHAPTER X. A Bold Game. "You will know, Josefa, if there is anything missing from the master's room?" "Si, senor. I know each little thing. There has been no change for many years." The small, wrinkled, almost black face of the little old Indian woman looked up curiously into Stanway's. "Then come. Let us hurry." He led the way. They went through the drawing room, where one of the house servants was lighting the candles, can-dles, where Torre was pacing back and forth, his restlessness showing for the first time. Teresa de la Guerra's scream had sounded through the house early that morning at three o'clock. The long day had dragged, and now It was growing dark. Still Torre and Juarez were prisoners; prison-ers; still Dempton fretted and fumed and sulked In the great library. Torre looked up quickly, his eyes eager, expectant. Stanway glanced at him,, giving no satisfaction In the swirt turning of his eyes. Torre frowned and bit at his lip. Juarez looked to his leader with both question ques-tion and criticism in his gaze. Josefa followed the rancher, and they passed on through the drawing room. The door closed behind them. ".Now, Josefa." Stanway threw open the door of the Senor de la Guerra's bedroom. Josefa, lifting a very white handkerchief handker-chief to her very black eyes, crossed herself and stepped over the threshold. thresh-old. "Look, Josefa! Is there anything missing?" He had the key In his pocket; she had not seen it. He looked at her in a moment tense with expectant waiting, wait-ing, not sure why he was so eager for the word she should say. Josefa's eyes, showing again as she folded and smoothed her ' handkerchief, roved about the room. She shook her head slowly, and still her eyes went upon their quest. "There Is nothing missing," she said, speaking thoughtfully. "Everything" "Every-thing" She broke off suddenly, her old figure fig-ure growing rigid, her eyes brightening. brighten-ing. Then she ran across the room to a far corner which was a bit in shadow as Stanway held his candle above his head. "It is gone !" she cried, amazement in her voice. "See where it has been for twenty years for , more than twenty years! And it is gone!" "What, Josefa?" Stanway hurried to his side. "What is it that is gone?" "The key !" she whispered, her -1- t Stilt Stared at the Cumbersome? Keyv voice suddenly dropping. "See- where it hung against the wall. See' where it hung so loDg that it left its own shape liSe a picture. But who. could have taken it?" Stanway, peering above the' old woman's head, the candle held close to the wall, saw,, dimly enougii. but plainly, the mark which the- key, hanging frm a little peg,- had left. "What key was it?" he asked sharply. sharp-ly. "The master's. He would allow no one to toueii it. He had it kept there always, where he could see it in the morning, at night when he went to bed. And it is gone !" "But," cried Stanway impatiently, his hand upon her arm, "what was it for? What did it open?" Josefa looked at him with: wide eyes. "But the master would1 tie angry an-gry if he knew. He has had it there for twenty years much longer, I think." "But, Jssefa," Stanway hurried on, "can't you think' what door it opens? Can't you guess? I must know, Josefa. Jo-sefa. Think. Is it some room in the house here?.'" .' . r "No, no, senor !. Not here:.' Josefa shook her head. " should know, then. I think, senor,. it must be the key to some rcom in his beloved Spain. It is for no: room, upon the rancho. Of that I am. sure-, senor." "What is this, Josefa?' Suddenly he had drawa the great, heavy key from his pocket, holding it before her eyes. She stared at it, then with a little cry put out her shaking hands for it. . "That is it, gracias a Dios!" she muttered. "We shall put it back so that the master will not be angry when he returns. Quick, senor! Let us put it back. Maybe it's being gone brought the bad luck. Maybe when it is on the wall once more good luck will come back to the rancho." It was not until he had again hung the key upon the peg that Stanway succeeded in getting the now delighted delight-ed Josefa to leave the room. When she had gone he closed the door, came back to the key, and took it again in his hands. "That opens the door behind which he is a prisoner," he told himself half angrily. "He and perhaps Teresa. I have the key, and I can't tell where the door is. And it is getting dark. Teresa " Long and moodily he stared at the cumbersome key. Its dull surface seemed to him to be hiding from uini the things he wanted to know. (TO BE CONTINUED.) |