Show fla flame me of the border by VINGIE E ROE copyright doubleday doran co too inc I 1 service SYNOPSIS death to escape dishonor at t aho he hands of 0 drunken desperado sonya bonya allows herself tobe to be rescued by her suddenly denly repentant tant attacker tits the girl Is a self appointed physician to the navajo Ind indians lans living on an an arizona sheep ranch w with iab her brother sorge serge his wife lila and their small daughter babs she la 13 engaged to rodney blake wealthy now yorker but her heart 13 with the friendless navajos cavajos and she eho evades a wedding sonya bonya pulls little moon wife of two to fingers ft a navajo through the crisis of 0 an illness fitness two fingers finger s Is deeply grateful Erate ful sonya again mee meets ts the man choso advances she haa repulsed on lone mesa he tells her lie he bitterly regrets his action sonya Is affected but unforgiving she hears rumors of border bandit et el Ca caligtan littan diablo and vaguely connects him with her attacker on lone mess mesa she again cornea comes upon the strange young man when he reiterates his sorrow over his misconduct she indicates forgiveness and urges him to abandon his life of lawlessness from concealment sonya witnesses the transference of objects from an airship to her attacker er at a dance she ehe demands that he tell her his name ile he says he be ll 11 starr stone that tits his mother believes him dead and that tie he goes by a different name in this region ile he leaves the dine dance e with a tall florce borce I 1 mexican with whom he Is mysteriously associated sonya realizes she to Is failing in love with a man whom she can only class as a renegade and outlaw find and that she can never marry blake CHAPTER VI continued 10 wrong it read write or shall take plane out by friday rod sonya herself drove in ID late that evening and sent her answer nothing but epidemic site she wired forgive For glye me sonya and as ag she left the straggly small dot of civilization under the uila thin sickle of a new moon she came upon a tiny cavalcade plodding in the deserts dust three burros their patient little feet shuffling in the white sand bore two packs and a rider the latter a thin old man to in rusty black whose silvery head shone in the dusk with beauty her heart pounding sonya drew up beside him good evening sir she said how Is all with you good evening daughter he be replied it la Is well the peace of the desert wells dwells within especially at this time if the day there Is healing in the twilight and contemplation the soul eDric enriches bes itself with thoughts of the bounty of the lord and you we have much sickness among the indians she said gravely and much work bad I 1 hope you pray a good deall deal well said sonya hesitantly yes sir I 1 do I 1 have to to carry on one needs strength you know 4 just so just so and strength will come to you never fear take that one now that blue eyed one three nights ago I 1 saw him by a little stream and he grasped my arm so hard bard it hurt burt the old you know my daughter are soft in the flesh kith without resistance and he asked of you the dark haired doctor woman and called on god for strength just so god he said it if I 1 was strong enough just go BO they all come to the knees of god daughter sooner or later sonya swallowed painfully tier her eyes felt blurred again with the ex ci suddenly in her tell me she said slowly tell me again where was he the servant waved an airy old hand band fine of line and yellow as patch parchment by a stream he said vaguely to the south three nights ago IQ well I 1 bid you good night daughter we mast must be getting on ile he bowed politely and the burros pattered away sonya stepped on the starter and bounced ahead so tie ile was in the country again lie he would be here somewhere some time maybe tomorrow maybe next day the winds that blew softly up from the south fanned her face with a perfumed breath the little moon MOOD was fair as a maidens brow there were mystery and ecstasy in every shadow of 0 the sage CHAPTER VII souls souli covenant but the morrow came and brought its flying trips to this bogan and that and nothing happened but death and sorrow borrow and the sun eun went down and rose again on sonya and her fever ish work it was at the end of another week when the tide of life in her seemed at low ebb with all the monstrous la in bor andlee and the strain of human suffering about that she came cam race face to face ith starr stone once a again din she had jus eldden doii the sounding aisle of tall callY canyon nit to lo come out nut on the dusky ducky ley lev ill alun aher sho auw him uti un aldro V labisi la cisi it it the gildt ivull nulls lip a dim and shining shape of got gold and the man in ills his saddle held his hi hat in 11 his land hand and ad looked at her he steadily sonya looked back and such a tight broke on her tired face as should hart bare humbled any man it humbled this one to the very dust beholding starr stone 1 she cried softly in ID the silence oil oh starr stone you have ave come back I 1 id come back from hells bells edges he said soberly miss Sa TarIn I 1 cant help myself 1 I dont want you to she said swiftly never you must come to me always she had stopped a few feet from him and the man reined close beside lie her r laying a liand hand on tiers hers looking into her face as if he could not look deep enough ills his blue eyes were dark again with will the spreading pupils his mouth grave of course you know he said simply that I 1 love you of course she said that im cm dust under your feet nothing less than that nut but I 1 want you to know too that I 1 love you as a better man could never love you I 1 dont love you no I 1 worship you could kiss th in print of your little foot in th sand youre a white angol angel on th stairs of heaven and im a devil in th pit and hell itself la Is in those separating miles for me ue he stopped his bis voice seeming to die in his throat with the weight of its confession then went on with an effort 1 I come back to look at you because I 1 cant stay away and I 1 forfeit my life every time I 1 want you to know that as a proof sort of 11 1 I dont need proof fl 1 cried the girl wildly and I 1 know that toot tool have known it ever since the night of the dance aben hen you followed when you followed yes when I 1 followed and left you standing there in the open floor like the Y yellow ellow dog I 1 was and ami nol no I 1 because you had to I 1 because if you double cross hush im here now lets talk tor for blittle a little while as if we were two ordinary people with nothing between u us 3 to prevent youre yourself to death he said searching her face with anxious eyes its nothing sly my part in life A good one a great one maybe but youre a woman and oh starr stone starlet you have come back so sweet so beautiful im afraid for you dont be I 1 wont die nothing could kill me now why now because said the girl gravely ive got a fight ahead A fight to take you from whatever holds you and ill do it weve just begun you and 1 I starr stone her face was like a lower flower of the dusk beautiful and dim but filled with a stern courage a white fire of the spirit ills his hand on hers closed tightly slowly he leaned toward her and sonya leaned to meet him his eyes his breast his lips in the darkening night she kissed him and knew she had never kissed a man before what she had given rod hod clake blake was pale friendship compared to the tide of life which engulfed her now then she drew back pushed the hair from her forehead strange she said what life does to us against our will in spite of all weve ever known ever desired ever planned god yest yea 1 he echoed ever known ever planned I 1 but we can fight hack 1 she cried we dont need to sink under its blows 1 to a certain point he said beyond that no yes As long as theres life lafel I 1 I 1 know what the human soul Is made of its strength its courage men blen and women too loo have done great things against all odds odda because of it it strong men strong women everyone falls only weaklings wea klings stay down anyone can get up it if he wants to hard enough it if he be has a reason rm im your reason the man groaned andi audibly bly ito an I 1 in articulate word of despair then he bent down and laid his cheek upon her hand and ills his clasped on her pommel a gesture of abase abas ment of humble love lore that came tog too 0 late if I 1 had the world he sald said thick ly id give it all to be worthy to make inake you that lie he straightened in his saddle gathered his rein corne come he be said 1 I keep jou jm oo do you mind if f I 1 ride with you a at iett its ii dark enough no on one will see you riding with a man whose head bead aarlea arl arr lea a price once again the cold fear shot hot through sonya as she turned and rode out ut across the desert at his side at a lift in the dark sage levels starr stone stopped and held out his hand band 1 I have a reprieve he said simply for a certain length of time ill be in tills this country for its duration do you mind if I 1 keep coining back while it lasts oh the girl said with a sudden catch in her voice you break my heart what Is all this what Is it lifes mistake its sins and penalties lie he answered lowly its grasping at straws its compensations may I 1 come it im careful comel Co uiel cried sonya any time any place I 1 and wheeling darkness she rode swiftly away to hide the sobs that shook her site she came in late at home serge and cabs babs had long been asleep but llla lila waited in the dark patio rocking slowly in the fringed hammock they exchanged low spoken words and went together into the silent house As llla lila struck a light she looked across its tiny flame at sonya youve seen him she said yes at tall canyon that was all and the two women went their ways on soft feet that meeting in the dusk at tall canyons lip was the beginning of a strange and pregnant time two days daya later sonya wringing hot cloths claths from it a steaming water basket on a hogans sandy floor looked up as a shadow darkened the doorway to the east starr stone stood there leaning his graceful length against the lintel Is there anything needing to b be e done that a husky man can do he asked soberly water to bring we wood od to get plenty said the girl quickly both of those every one in this famy I 1 ty Is down except the two littlest chit children without a word the man turned and disappeared and presently he wax wa bac back k with two baskets of water he set them inside the door and went away again returning later with great quantities of the bleached and straggly dead wood of the juniper scrub which clothed the uplands here he replenished the outside fire where sonya had been heating her stones for the water baskets set the latter in to heat again poured fresh water into the basket at her elbow anything to eat about he asked practically very little there was mutton two days back but the mans down and the woman too and the last went bad on me I 1 carry cereals but im nearly out of those 0 K 11 he said briefly ill fix that sonya went on about her ministrations and in tile the course of an hour he was back with the dressed carcass of a freshly slaughtered sheep without comment he put small pieces to cook this will do nicely he said when sonya came out of the hogan began ive hung the meat in the tallest scrub I 1 could fand back of the corral wrapped it in a couple of sacks its in good shade and should cool out all right what next nothing she said but this la Is priceless and when two hours later sonya rode out across the hot sage levels starr stone rode beside her on his golden horse theres no one hereabout but nava jos and few and far apart he said gald 1 I think we wont be seen and what it if we are the girl asked wearily why should it matter we wont be and you may need me where youre going like you did back there oh I 1 will conditions are pitiful in nearly all these lonely places no water no food no wood everybody too III to get them and what have you been doing about it he asked curiously getting them myself wherever I 1 could she answered but its beyond me now theres so much to do so many sick ive burled buried three people myself she looked at him with haggard dark eyes in her worn young face and the man looked quickly away the government agency doing he asked what about the schools they got doctors of course put cut got their hands full in their own vicinity were so far away here on the very edge of the reservation you know cut but I 1 wont give up a single one of them without a fight and the best one I 1 can put up when they passed the spot at the canyons lip where they had met in the dusk starr stone reached over and laid his hand on hers upon the tha pommel souls covenant he be said it was that we made here prom from everlasting to everlasting no matter what comes well remember the feel of the little winds the look of the starlit sky it will go with me to the end wrapped in the center of my heart sonya souls cove covenant said the girl tragically from everlasting to ing in amen and they rode forward into the dark mouth of the shadowed aisle the good woman and the bad man to that selfless service of humanity which Is the immortal flame in the mortal dross TO DO BB CONTINUED |