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Show desert y ... C8JEAVER. l lif lfgtf SIR ASH AN fcyl tV' U is 'l. IPYRI6HT by POUBLEPAV OORAM COl INC. HW.aSERVKE 7T- ' :Lr 1 md-p There Were the Girls, Everlastingly Searching for Something. her. It was senseless to suppose that they were harboring a grudge against Sam for anything that he had ever done to Canneziano. The Desert Moon was like a three-ring three-ring circus during the months of May and June. There were the girls, everlastingly ever-lastingly searching for something: leaving the house shortly after the men left it, each morning;' returning, tired out, just in time for dinner; off again for the afternoon, and coming with me. Why should you try to take him away from me, when you don't want him yourself?" "Are you sure of that?" "Yes, I am. His good looks fascinate fas-cinate you, and so does his unsophistl-cation. unsophistl-cation. You'd like the fortune he Is to Inherit. But you would never be satisfied satis-fied to marry him nnd live right here for the remainder of your life." "No, I would not. I'd mnrry him, If he didn't have a penny It is you who are always thinking about his fortune but I wouldn't allow him to bury himself, and his beauty, and charm In this Godforsaken country. I'd get him out into the world, ami nave him take his place there. With his ability and energy, nnd with me to help him, what a place it might be ! For you to have him is waste. Waste. You don't know anything about love. You'll never learn. I I (ell you I can't bear it. It isn't fair " She began to cry, hollow sounding sobs, that seemed to catch in her throat and wrench free from it. "I am sorry, Gaby. I love John. He means to me peace, and security, and decent living the things I want most for my life. Why should I risk it all?" "Coward ! Coward I Peace and security ! He means life to me. All of It ; full and complete. Love, and passion, and adventure and attain- home just in time to pretty up for supper. sup-per. After a while, I began to lose interest in that; and, being a woman, I allowed my attention to become distracted dis-tracted by the center ring where all the love interest was going on. Most of my attention I gave to the clown in the ring, to Chad. I canno't explain it, now or ever; but Chad, from the very first, was head over heels in love with Gaby. He had no more chance of winning her, penniless, funny, kind little fellow that be was, than an amateur has of riding an outlaw pony. She never gave him two looks. He couldn't even make her laugh with his jokes and his songs, as he could the CHAPTER III The Secret The first minute I heard that the rameziano girls were coming to the Lert Moon, I questioned my self as t0 wbnt reason any Canneziano ever bad for coming to the ranch, or for writing to the ranch. The answer , Ms to get money. 1 tried to think tiat' they would stay a few months, long enough to put themselves In Sam's- good graces, ask him for a tidy sum, and leave. But they had not teen on the place two days before I tnew that there was something far less simple, something, probably, treacherous and sinister at the root of this visit of theirs to the Desert Moon. , , ' On the evening of their arrival the tirls bad unpacked their trunks in Heir bedrooms. The next morning tie boys carried their trunks to the attic Going through the upper hall, leter that same morning, I saw one of tie empty drawers that had fitted into their new-fangled trunks, lying beside tie door to the attic stairway. I hate clutter. I picked it up and carried it upstairs. I went in all Eood faith: but I wear rubber-soled sloes around the house, and the stairs are thickly carpeted ; so the girls, who trere np there, did not hear me coming. com-ing. Just before I go't to the turn in tie stairs, I heard one of them say : Tl am sure that there is no use In searching the house. In the first place, he never could have gotten it Into the house without being seen." "Ton are too sure of everything, rteD you are unsure of anything," tie other girl answered, and I thought, since the voice was louder and, some-low, some-low, richer, that It was Gaby's. "Stop being sure, and try being sensible. We must find it We have very little time. How do you know whether he could have brought U Into the house or not? There is a back stairway." Fool that I was, I kept right on going go-ing tip the stairs. It took me a while to develop the poll-prying, eavesdropping, eaves-dropping, sneaking, and generally iespicable character that I did de-relop de-relop later. "Did you girls lose something?" I ssted. Danny jumped, from being startled, tat Gaby never turned a h'air. "Only a trinket of Dan's," she said. "Possibly she never packed It at all." I gave them the trunk drawer and came back downstairs, wracking my brain with questions. Who was the "he" who had, or ko had not, gotten something into tie house? The something that they must find, and had very little time in Ueh to find it. And, land's alive, "tat was the something? ment, for him and for me, too. Do you think I'll stand by, and allow yon to have him, to bury his wonder In your peace, and smother his possibilities possibili-ties with your security and decent living?" "I think," Danny answered, "that you will have to. John and I love each other; and we are going to keep each other. You, nor anyone, can change that." "Suppose I should tell John why we came here?" "You won't do that. You can't harm me without harming yourself. But, If you threaten that, just once more, I will go straight to John and tell him the truth" "You promised " "I haven't broken my promise. I sha'n't, If you don't But you must know that I haven't any Interest left in the thing." "What about your desire for revenge?" re-venge?" "That desire was yours, not mine. I never considered that side of It at all." "Coward! Quitter 1 Stool-pigeon" "That isn't fair, Gaby. I'll help If I can. I have been helping, haven't I? I won't hinder In any way. But rest of us. But he followed her about, and waited on her. He brought her pony up to the house, instead of allowing allow-ing one of the outfit to do it. He brought her desert flowers, which she tossed away to wither. And Martha was half mad with jealousy. Right at first, I think that some of the others thought that Martha's jealousy was something of a joke. I never did think so. Before long we all began to feel that It was more than a little serious. Sam talked to Chad, and to Gaby about It Chad did the best he could, after that, to be as attentive to Martha as he had been before; but. If he so much as opened a door for Gaby, Martha would go into temper fits, and sulking spells. As for Gaby, Sam's talk with her made things worse. She had never noticed Chad at all, so she had not noticed that Martha was Jealous of him. She welcomed the news as another an-other tool she could use to tease and torment the poor girl. All along she had delighted in teasing and tormenting torment-ing Martha, though she had not dared do It when Sam was present. One of Gaby's pleasant little ways was to refer to Martha as an Idiot, the time Is short now. Kemember that" "Danny " There was a new tone In Gaby's voice, sweet like, and appealing. ap-pealing. I did not trust it for a minute; min-ute; but I think Danny di3, for she answered, gently, "Yes, dear?" "Forgive me. Let's be twinny again. Friends?" I could hear the treachery In that as plainly as I could hear the words. I think Danny did not hear it, for she answered, "I do want to be friends, Gaby. I do, truly. Only please, dear, won't you leave my man alone?" "And you'll help me. And you won't tell him anything?" "Of course I won't tell, Gaby. It is really your secret, now; not mine. And I'll help you all I can." Revenge. Out of all that crazy conversation the one word kept pestering pester-ing me like a leaking faucet Did people revenge other people, or have revenge on them, or what? I looked it up in the dictionary. "MlUcIous Injuring In-juring In return for an Injury or offense of-fense received." I got a piece of paper and wrote It down. "The Canneziano girls want to injure, maliciously, some one on the Desert Moon ranch, in return for an injury or an offense received." I crossed out "The Canneziano girls," and wrote, "Gttbrielle Cannelao, since Danny had said that she had never considered that side of it at all. It did not help any. It did not make sense. Since Sam nnd I .were the only people peo-ple on the ranch they had known before be-fore they came here this time, it seemed as if they had come to Injure, maliciously, one of us. I had never clone either of them a mite of harm in my life. Sam had never done anything any-thing but good for them. Of course, Sam had not been very gentle with their father. But, as I took pains to discover, neither of them had any kind feelings for their father Both of them laid their mother's death at Cannezinno's door. They though that his cruelty and his neglect had lulled right betore tier race. "La-la I" Gaby exclaimed one evening, eve-ning, when Martha was wandering about "The idiot gets on my nerves. Can't you make her keep still, Mrs. Ricker?" "She isn't harming anyone," I said, since Mrs. Ricker, as usual, said nothing. noth-ing. "You leave her alone, and stop talking like that. Miss." 'Tm not harming anyone, now," Martha piped up. "But some day I might I'd like to 1 won't though," she walked over close to Gaby, "if you'll give me the gold monkey. I'll be good then, for always." It was a bracelet charm of Gaby's, a gold monkey, about the size of a large almond, with jade eyes. The minute Martha had seen it she had begun to beg for It Gaby would not give it to her; would not so much as allow her to wear It for a few hours at a time. As usual, this evening, she refused re-fused to let Martha touch it "Yes, and you'll be sorry." Martha threatened. Just as she had hated Gaby from the start Martha had loved Denny; but she could not tell them apart It seemed incredible that even Mnrjha could be confjised about the two girls; because, if ever girls were onposltes, those girls were. Their faces, just their faces, did look aiike. They both had large brown eyes, straight noses, small mouths, pointed chins, and complexions com-plexions the color of real light caramel cara-mel frosting. Danny's cheoks showed a faint pink, coming and going. Gaby painted her cheekbones, clear back to her ears, with deep orange-pink color. They both had wavy, dark brown balr, cut just the same In the back, real close fitting and down to a point But Gaby brushed her balr straight back from her forehead, and put varnish stuff on it till it was as sleek and shining shin-ing as patent leather. Gaby's clothes were all loud colored,- or seemed to be Wack turned pawl? when she pit It on and they were nil insecure nn-ponrin?, nn-ponrin?, too defiant of paper pat te ns to be 'quite moral. Danny's clothes were as neat and quiet as a pmemi s. Since Hubert ILmd rcas wo sclCiU ' I resolved to say nothing, but to . Wu those two girls, like a hawk, from then on. I did so. But it was three weeks before 1 heard anything at all, though I saw a great deal. It was during these three weeks tat Danny and John announced their fnEJgement. My own opinion is that tay got themselves engaged the first 5ve minutes they were alone together ; 'it that they had gumption enough b wit for ten days before telling it Sara gave them his blessing. That IJtosay, he said that any agreement e? wanted to make was all right sla him, if Danny was sure she be satisfied to live on the Desert "i, ana If they would wait a year ' te married. They agreed to this, rear of waltlug, reluctantly. The people who were downright ?eo with Sam's decision were Gaby 111 myself. I, for certain reasons of wn. Gaby, because she was ,-wsing to consider herself also in ,te lth John. e made no bones about her feel-ft feel-ft I did not do as John did, and H of her open advances toward .Mown to sister-in-lawly affection. ;5 I didn't believe that she really ;;sli( she w8 in lore with John, I hid In the clothes closet that ..'g and heard Danny and her "ig together. ,'s actions, that evening, toward C been so downright disgnst-sltt!ng disgnst-sltt!ng on the arm of his chair, .;; tWcg to coax him out of the ,r'e to Bee the mountains by moon-and moon-and hanging herself around' his i on tte? aQnced together, and -;; tbat I had a notion Danny ''L a littIe conversation ready , r when she could get her alone. l"Wik waite1 about ten minutes Ym U)e door of Gaby's room I ;1 1 was so tickled I all but ' when I heard that Danny :;onT 'n Wlth her' instend of g I ti the hnU ,0 her own room' th?y had begun their con- ;,Ms'on 'n the hall, for Gaby's first 1 ?ro' "jealous, my dear Dan ?' t Jnt know. But it is silly for acUs. you. 0o loJmls.ln.loie i ever to love anything that hla nose wasn't attached to, his carryings on with Gaby should be classed, I think, not in the center ring, but as the main attraction of the third ring. And he almost old enough to be ber father, with white coming into his hair at his temples I To this day 1 have never understood under-stood those two, during those months. I Gaby was in love with John. Hubert Hand was in love with Hubert Hand, yet they hcfrged and kissed, and seemed to think that calling It "neck-inc" "neck-inc" made it respectable. It wasn't a f.irtation, with them. :t was more like a Pi-ht, where each of them was p.ch.ting for something they did not want '. perfectly foot'e, none too wholesome performance. (To Be Continued) |
