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Show SIXTH EPISODE N " The Desert of Lost Souls. "I mean what I say!" exclaimed Liberty, as she gradually brought tho knife nearer her breast and stared at Manuel In grim defiance. He moved away from her and, seeing see-ing that his attempt to force her had failed, he grew calm and submissive. "It Is true I do bear your nome," she said, "but I could never love and respect a man of your nature. You nre deceitful, dishonest and could treat no woman even your wife fairly." "You do me an Injustice," he said aa he dropped before her. "I love you with all my heart, and If you give mo a chance I'll prove that I am worthy of your affection." "Please do not speak of It again," she pleaded, as she raised a protesting hand. Ho arose and walked slowly to tho door. Reaching there, he turned and, with tho aid of his old spirit which had now returned, shouted: "You may love that fellow, Hut-ledge, Hut-ledge, and he may love you. But he will never get you honorably, for 1 will never permit you to leave mel" Then he went out and slammed the door. Therese, who had seen Manuel when no srartcQ ior LiDcrty s room, nau iol-lowed iol-lowed him, and with her ear at the door, sho .had heard every word that had passed between him and Liberty. As he left the house and stepped ln to the courtyard sho confronted him. "So you havo cast mo aside, as you said you would, for her?" she said, as she pointed to Liberty's room. "Bui she doesn't want you; she loves Rut-,lcdge." Rut-,lcdge." "What business Is that of yours?" ho exclaimed as he stared In anger at the Mexican woman. "You will find out when I tell her that" "You wouldn't dare," he challenged her, "you common " With that she whipped out her revolver. re-volver. Sho was about to level It at .him when he snatched It out of her hand and shoved It In his pocket "Can't you see I'm crazy about you?" she humbly pleaded as she ;stretched out her arms in an agonizing agoniz-ing appeal. But he sneered at her and then turned and walked across tho courtyard. court-yard. ' Therese then went to Liberty's .room, where she found her mistress 'nervously pnclng back and forth. In .tent on telling her the whole truth, the" girl confronted Liberty. "You have taken him from me," she said falterlngly. "In tho eyes of th law you are his wife, but in the eye of God he is mine." "What do you mean?" asked Liberty Jn surprise. Then the poor girl, as Liberty listened lis-tened attentively, unfolded tho whole story of her Intrigue with Manuel and iof his deception. Pedro had followed Therese when rshe left her room. I Liberty knew she would get tin truth from hlra and, going over to .where ho stood, she laid one hand on his shoulder. "Did you hear her 6tory?" sh asked. Pedro nodded. ' "Is it true?" she continued. "She speak truth," answered th slave. Then he turned and ordered Therese to leave tho room. Then the full realization of her position po-sition dawned upon Liberty. She wai the wife of a man who had used hei servant for a mlBtress. The thought Increased tho hatred she had for him and she loathed him now more than ever. He was so unworthy to live, The only one who knew everything nnd seemed to understand, was dear old Pedro, who now stood, llko a faithful old nnlmal, waiting to obey her. Suddenly sho turned. 'Tedro," sho said, "snddlo the horses. We leave for the border tonight" Now Lopez, having failed once beforo be-foro to securo Liberty's money, determined deter-mined to make another attempt Before Be-fore leaving his shnck ho called his men about him nnd began making preparations to steal her ngaln. "Once before we tried to obtain tho American girl's money to finance our cause," ho said to the men as they gathered about him. "This time wo will bo successful. In order to make certain wo will capture tho wholo bunch in the hncienda and make them all our prisoners. And, above all things, we rau-t got that black dog, Pedro. I have a personal debt I want to pay him." As the leader nnd his men left tho hut they saw a dark flguro turn tho corner and make for tho bushes. Two of his men made after him and a moment mo-ment later they appeared, dragging along Pedro, who fought madly to free himself from tho peons. Then they started for the hacienda. They broke into the house and made Pancho and Manuel prisoners and hustled them outside, where they wero placed under guard. Liberty was fully dressed when two of the band entered her room and ordered her to follow them. Sho refused. Then they grabbed her and, though she was able to put up considerable resistance, now that sho hnd recovered the use of her Injured arm, she was no match for them and they soon overpowered her and led her nwny to the hut As thev oassed throuch the court yard Lopez, who was directing his men, saw her and grinned In satisfaction. satisfac-tion. "Ycu see, Senorita, I cannot live without you. This time I do not think you escape so easily. Your Captain will not And you so quickly as ho did before." Arriving at the hut of Lopez, she was surprised to And that Thereso had already been captured, and as they throw her In nnd locked the door she found tho poor Mexican girl sitting moodily In ono corner. Presently the entire band returned o tho hut Looez then sent two of his men to brln'g Pedro from the bam. In the meantime Manuel and his father fa-ther were being guarded by several desperate looking outlaws. As they were waiting for Pedro the leader walked over to Manuel. "We need money," he said; "also men with military training. I give you your choice an officer with moor mo-or death." For a moment Manuel wns undecided. undecid-ed. Ho stood looking Lopez squarely In the eye, wondering whether ho was really serious. But Lopez met his gaze with a piercing glance which convinced con-vinced him the outlaw meant every word. "At school," said Manuel, "I wns shunned by my classmates because they said I was a greaser; my wlfo hates me because she thinks I am one. Now I'm going to make tho action ac-tion fit tho name. Henceforth I'm going to be a greaser. I accept the proposal." "Ah, I thought you would come with us," grinned Lopez. "Untie him," After they had cut tho ropes that bound his . hands, Manuel requested Lopez to release his father, too. Following Fol-lowing a consultation with some of his men, Lopez ordered that Pancho be allowed to go. When tho men arrived with Pedro, who fought every Inch of the way, Lopez walked up to him and, with a sneer, struck him in tho face. "I always pay my debts," he said. "To you now I will pay what I owe." Then he sent two of his men to the barn for a wild horse which had been purchased a few days beforo by Pancho. When they arrived ho ordered them to tie Pedro to the back of tho fiery creature. This they did and bound his arms and legs securely to the animal ns it danced about, eager to ocean away. After ho was securely bound thoy let the horse pi and he dashed away madly with the form of the poor slave lashed to Its back nnd soon disappeared down the road. While Lopez and his gang were In complete control of tho hacienda, Rut-lodge Rut-lodge and his men wero many miles awny, patrolling the border for roving bands of Mexican raiders. As the Captain was riding at the head of the rangers ho was suddenly attracted by smoke, which aroso from a clearing ,JMH not far from tho main road. They S? had Just left a thick wood, and as &Bt they approached, Rutledge pulled upj HyCl bis horse and raised his Held glnssos. fcWtil It was a camp of Mexican bandits., G(j They were cooking somo food, while lr their horses were grazing Bome dls- '.';; tanre away. Some of them were ll.i gambling; others were busy looking W over their loot, whllo several were, vl asleep under tho trees. They had .jlj brought somo of their victims with jc? them, for, as ho studied the field, Rut- jS ledgo discovered n number of whlto itt women huddled together on the !l: ground, their hands nnd feet tied and I' their faces wrapped in terror. "They far outnumber us," said Rut- ' I' lejjge, "for they havo threo to our 1 one ; but we've got to attack them and save those women." a Then he ordered his men to dls- 'If mount anc hiding their horses In tho 1 bushes beside tho road, tho rangers 11 took their guns nnd crept cautiously down the'hlllsldo until they wero with- H In a few feet of the camp. Then they I opened fire. Several Mexicans drop- M ped, while the others picked up their JM guns and returned tho fire of the ran- fjfl gcrs. A hot fight followed. Tho ran- Vw gers fought under cover of the huge rocks, toward which tho Mexicans 1 rushed in the fnco of volley after vol- J ley, which soon thinned out their numbers. But Rutledge had lost sev- J eral men, too, and it looked as though ho stood in danger of being defeated. He and tho Major tried to creep up on the Mexicans by dodging from ono 1 rock to another, but tho furious nre drove them back each time. Finally, during a br'ef lull in tho fighting, Rutledge heard a bugle call on tho road behind him, annd as ho i looked around he saw n troop of cavalry cav-alry dashing townrd them. J , was Col-1 I onel Dalton on his way across the bor-. der to break up the bands that had been sacking American towns. A few j i seconds later they reached the spot ; 1 and sent their horses charging right , ! Into the Mexicans, scattering Uiem in, all directions and killing a large num- ! ber of them. They finally, drove them' 1 off and after mnking several of them' ; prisoners they released the women ; and Colonel Dalton sent them to Dls-. , covery under escort. J After it wns nil over and the troop- f "You'll Not Escape as Easily Jhls Time," Said Lo-ez. era had formed again on the main III rond Rutledge rushed up to Colcnel jjl Dalton nnd grasped h'.s hand. fil "You arrived just In time, Colonel," XXmtl he said. "I had only one cartridge -' UjK left" , vWi "A fellow needs a carload of am- JM munition to fight those greasers," re- ' piled the Colonel, laughingly; "they f fire so damn fast" '1 "It's strange that you overtook us,M I said Rutledge. "We were on our way U to join your troops." 1 "Wo would havo been nway beyond R here," replied the officer, "but we hnd an argument with nnother band about E n mile or two back there. Thero were n only nbout two dozen of them and we wr quloted every one of them beforo we left We've got orders to bring 'em h back dead or alive, but it? looks to me as though we'll leave most of them (J stretched out where we find 'em." Then the Colonel rode to the head of J his column, while Rutledge and tho . 1 Major, followed by the rangers, fell in J behlndjjhe troopers, and they started JJ again on tho march. But had the m brave ranger known of the danger HRl Liberty was In at that moment ho probably would havo Influenced Dal- ton to turn his troops about and, despite his orders from Washing- M ton, go with him to her rescue. And H this, in spite of the fact that she had jiBk turned him aside for his greatest en- But at that moment it looked aa though Liberty would be able to effect' M her own escape, for, when she heard A Lopez and his men movo away from .1 the hut she peeked through a crack "m in the door nnd discovered he had left I j but one man on guard outside. Then I J sho pounded on the door and as soon 1 as it was opened by the guard she jll grabbed him and tried to throw him ,B to the floor. lH Tho door was now wide open and, ad nm Therese, who had been sitting silently H in one corner up until now, saw that JH she had a chance to escape, she' lost no time in taking advantage of it J So, while Liberty was battling with the sentry, Thereso rushed out and f'l left her alono with him. But the Mexican girl did not get far. ''H (END OF SIXTH EPISODE.) f |