Show 0 0 0 under PRESSURE a 0 george agnew chamberlain by george agnew chamberlain sen I 1 a 0 40 01 SYNOPSIS joyce sewell on the eve of her twentieth birthday rebels at her lot dependent on her detested stepmother irma and full ol 01 tragic memories ol 01 her mother a murder twelve years before and her fathers father a death six months ago irma calls in helm black adder an admirer to help her persuade joyce to marry rich young M chael kirk patr pair ck M ke sent up to joyce by irma and blackadder demands a showdown on his proposal and is rejected joyce real izes that la barranca a mexican hac enda which her father had owned legally be longs to her she receives a warrant on the un ted states treasury tor for 10 campen eat oat on for her mother s murder at la bar anca she confers with mr bradley a banker and only rema ning friend of her fathers father a she confides that she wants to make a secret journey to mexico bradley a arranges all dentals deta Is for her she departs by plane undetected D rk van se c d secretary of the american embassy in fn mexico C ty gives joyce a ch cb I 1 lly ly re capt on and she loses her temper she finds a mexican woman lawyer margarida Mar garlda fon eca who takes her to general onel a right hand man to the mex can min ster of war margarida Mar garlda reminds onella onelia that the usurper of la barranca is h s dangerous enemy general dorado the two make plans to send joyce w th a few picked men under pancho buenaventura to dr ve do rado out adan arnaldo a young man who runs el a night club knows do rado s present whereabouts so they take joyce there that night where she not ces dirk general dorado arrives and in the course of sudden gunplay the I 1 gats go out and joyce is left alone adan arnaldo wh aks her out and takes tales her home the following morning joyce drives off to to luca ath w th pancho back in Elsin boro joyce s d arance has been discovered blackadder Elac kadder upbraids irma but succumbs to her helpless charm and plans to marry her blackadder gets the secretary of state to wire the embassy at mexico C ty to lo 10 cate joyce D rk is delegated for the search he ile goes to el and intern aws arnaldo arnaldo bids ark D rk follow him meanwhile joyce and pancho reach la bar ranca aranca pancho and euseb 0 one of his band leave her and at dawn climb the wall suddenly shots ring out and at sight of a sorely wounded man joyce runs in eide side and finds the dread dorado there tor dented by pancho and euseblo eusebio dorado escapes runn ng out aga n joyce is caught by a murderous hand and cries out luzi dirk and arnaldo go to margarida Mar garlda s apart ment where they are told joyce s de destina stina tion and D rk makes ready to follow alone meanwhile at la barranca joyce s cry brings luz and the other old servants of her childhood led by don jorge maxim lian now ba nd CHAPTER VII Conti continued nied 8 then the thing becomes simple said aid don jorge slowly I 1 don t mean I 1 can fathom the thought back of onelia s action but at least I 1 know where we stand you and I 1 and all our people you re here luz I 1 si senor call leonardo what are you going to do asked joyce as luz slipped from the room ill tell you chica said don jorge sitting very straight with his hands clasped over the head of his staff I 1 in told five or six of do rado s followers lie dead owing to the suddenness of the attack no doubt his private arsenal is still in tact that gives us plenty of rifles and ammunition and all the rest becomes easy leonardo entered the room se nor al servi cio heusted we stand a siege leonardo said don jorge certainly for weeks perhaps for months call in all our people corral the stock close the gates and man the towers with your best shots you will find the necessary rifles and amlun tion where they lie at present the moon is at the full shoot anybody who comes within range by night or by day whether it s friend or foe oh maxie interrupted joyce 6 why since we ourselves are our only friends said don jorge whoever comes from without must be a foe CHAPTER VIII years of peace and months of in action had caused routine to lay its grip on the american embassy routine decreed that the second secretary s waking duty was to edit ornice the local papers and lay be fore his chief by ten 0 clock all such items as were worthy of his atten tion but fate ordained that on this morning at the said hour dirk van should be contemplating with astonishment one bullet hole through his radiator still another through a front tire and a third that had shattered his non erable windshield fortunately on the side away from the driver coincidentally the embassy but ler murmured in the ambassadorial ear the minister of war on the telephone sir the minister in per son ten minutes later the dor was being shown into the most private room of the very private residence of the minister of war it was strictly an unofficial visit so unofficial that the minister had done the necessary telephoning without bothering to mention the matter to his secretary further more the invitation was for desaye no a meal without food certainly the last word in informality excellency how can I 1 exp express ress my gratitude that you should conde to come to my humble abode for a mere sip of coffee mr minister I 1 am delighted to be here I 1 ve already had my cof fee but gladic accept another cup permit me to help you to it my self since our privacy is such that no servant is in attendance the ambassador though a diplo mat of the first water felt enough time had been wasted on prelim manes I 1 take note of the vacy mr minister and see no rea son why you should postpone telling me what is troubling you the minister ministers s eyebrows went up it doesn doean t trouble you also excel lencyk I 1 must know what we re talking about said the ambassador star tied forgive me mr minister but it happens I 1 haven t done my usual reading of the news this morn ing ah ali said the minister and pushed forward a newspaper fold ed and marked raid at la barranca he read we give space to an nary rumor from our correspondent in toluca not by reason of its fan bastic interest but because should it prove true it may develop into an event of colossal import some years ago general dorado whose services to the republic require no epitome took possession of the abandoned hacienda of la barranca and has been doing his best not only to restore it to usefulness but to put into effect the fundamentals of agra on which the future happi ness of our people depends now word has come to us from a reliable a V r J her iler attention was riveted on some thing else source that a certain joyce sewell said to be the daughter of the de camping former owner of la bar ranca aranca suddenly appeared on the scene accompanied by 18 of her fel low countrymen popularly known as gringos disguised to look like our own by artifice these men introduced themselves into the innermost recesses of the hacienda opening fire without warning they are reported to have massacred the few istas on guard and driven the general him self into the nearby hills that he should have escaped is only one more proof of the astuteness and bravery with which the ambassador read no more A bad business he murmured I 1 can see various complications they are innumerable said the minister in a tone of exasperation no sooner do I 1 estimate them from one angle than another slant pre an entire new crop I 1 doubt whether you can mention any aspect we should consider before all oth ers I 1 certainly can said the am cassador bas promptly the matter of the 18 americans supposed to hae accompanied the girl I 1 don t be lieve it I 1 don t believe there was even one american with her the minister threw out his hands and let them fall in a despairing gesture excellency please it is of no con consequence sequence whatever whether they were americans or not per strictly as between friends I 1 m inclined to agree with you but the public has been led to be lieve there were americans 18 of them and as long as it continues in that conviction it s exactly as if there had been I 1 admit it said the ambassador grimly nevertheless I 1 intend sending a declaration to the papers that no american accompanied miss joyce sewell her disappearance has been causing considerable corn com motion not only in my country but throughout the english speaking world it was thought she was pen ciless consequently her parents were mystified as well as worried her parents 7 are you speaking in the spanish or the english sense of the worda the english she has a step mother and a prospective stepfather who is expected to arrive here to day ah ali breathed the minister oae ame J more aspect but perhaps encourage mg ing what is his mission I 1 m not sure but I 1 gather he is determined to take the girl home at once good if she still lives we must help him by every means in our power mr minister said the ambas gravely I 1 wish to assure you that if disaster overtakes miss sewell it will shake the present pleasant relations between our two countries to their very foundations don t misunderstand me I 1 in not implying that miss sewell s life is of greater importance than that of any other american living abroad d I 1 in merely taking into account that for the last ten days every in man an woman and child in the united states has been reading about her and in my country such a flood of publicity automatically transforms her into a colossal bomb at last murmured the minis ter sinking back in his chair now we can talk in my on she should be res cued at once an excellent idea but how by sending a government force to do bring her back to mexico city hand her over to her stepfather and bid them both farewell and good riddance excellency have you ever visit ed any of our major haciendas es specially ally la Barranca 7 9 no my duties began the am cassador bas vaguely of course interrupted the mm min ister la barranca haugens to be a fortress more easily defended than any castle existing in scotland today at this season it has stored within its walls enough provisions to keep a small army for five years to say nothing of unlimited water with six high powered rifles and plenty of ammunition I 1 would guar antee to hold it indefinitely against a force of a hundred regulars the only answer to la barranca on its guard is artillery now lets let s see what your dream amounts to you suggest that the mexican govern ment send a battalion against a young girl in whom your whole peo pie happens to be particularly in te rested in order to kick her off her own proper property tyll I 1 withdraw the suggestion said the ambassador gloomily I 1 ad mit I 1 spoke too hastily but the pos sivility lity of resistance had not oc burred to me the whole thing is fantastic are you convinced all this has really happened 9 remember member Ke the papers speak of it as a rumor I 1 happen to know it isn t a ru mor at all said the minister promptly my source of informs tion is unimpeachable there are certain elements of mystery which threaten my official neck but the facts themselves are unalterable the story is so true I 1 regret I 1 hap pen to be minister of war at the present juncture strange murmured the ambas with a wan smile I 1 was thinking the same thing about my ambassadorship what is your plan mr Minister 9 I 1 listen subterfuge and cash I 1 have no illusions about the senorita joyce sewell I 1 consider her as a fort ress the question now arises how shall she be taken the answer is so simple it s classic by an emis sary bearing gifts preferably a sack of gold well we 11 find the gold you find the emissary I 1 have it exclaimed the ambas ador s my second secretary of the embassy the ambassador reached for the telephone called his own chancel lery cry ard a moment later was ask ing the counselor of embassy what explanation van had given for his late arrival none sir he chasn t arrived cried the ambassador telephone him at once send around to his house tell him interrupted in the midst of his in he leaned forward gripping the apparatus tighter and tight er when the murmuring voice at the other end finally ceased he hung up and turned to face the minister I 1 regret the young gentleman I 1 had in mind is not available since we don t know what has become ol 01 him no cluel asked the minister frowning unfortunately there is said the ambassador and I 1 in ashamed to be obliged to mention it he was last seen at about two in the morn ing in the most questionable night club in town seated alone before a magnum of champagne needless to say my first action upon returning to the embassy will be to becom mend his immediate dismissal from the service the minister who had knotted his fingers together began to crack his knuckles one by one be pat ent excellency ther s still this blackadder fel low the ambassador muttered hopelessly the minister was thinking of tain matters he had bof voiced somebody was out to get him per haps had already got him I 1 A phrase used casually by the ambassador hovered in his thoughts what was the most questionable night club in towne el A gleam lit in his eyes ah ali he half sighed with relief you can put your trust in step fathers mr ambassador send a young frend of mine who his name is arnaldo adan ar naldo the shots which had so astonished dirk van stirred joyce sew ell to swift action she rushed down into the patio ascertained they had been f fired ired from the two eastern tow ers dispatched luz to the northern one with a categorical order to lay off and hurried herself up the spiral stone steps of the bastion overlook mg ing the southeastern gate there she found leonardo with head and shoulders thrust into an embrasure looking out we stopped a car in its tracks he announced and its it s almost a kilometer awall away that s fine leonardo said joyce her face white but well we 11 have no more shooting until I 1 say the word let me look please almost at once she discovered the distant car a shining mark under the rays of the morning sun it was a roadster and presently she saw emerge from its single seat a huge bear like figure instantly helm blackadder came to mind for who else could it be bea well she was ready for him what could he do besides talka let him come and the sooner the better the man stood for a moment as still as a pillai staring at his car then he opened the rumble dragged out a duffle bag and what looked like a gun threw them over his shoulders and started to walk toward the hacienda he had gone less than a hundred yards when he came to the barran ca and the rope bridge and he has tei ed his steps at that juncture her attention was diverted to a cloud of dust moving across the prairie far to the east she saw it had been caused by a troop of horse men and the next instant she real iced they had dismounted and were emitting strange puffs of smoke what could they be shooting at at her she was about to draw bach back instinctively when she saw the bear like figure leap into the air come down on all fours and scurry for cover leonardo wedged himself into the embrasure next to hers dorado 1 he yelled dorado y su gente gentel TO BE CONTINUED |