Show By FRANK H. SPEARMAN Frank H. Spearman CHAPTER Continued 18 But only when their fears had proven when it became evident that not a living soul was within sight or did Bowie and Carmen realize that a fountain of water close to the plaza was gushing with a roar into the air and running like a river over the They looked at the church but did not recognize It dawned on them that the tower was They hurried to the Their knocking brought no They turned to the door of the It was still With the earth shuddering every few moments under their they shouted called the names of the two padres and their own Slowly and cautiously the church door was Padre Martinez opened to Every soul women and children of those at the mission were on their sending supplications up to heaven for breaking Into joined CHAPTER It was days before Santa Clara Valley recovered from the shock of its mighty Gradually news from the neighboring ranchos reached Rancho and the excitement died when it was learned there had been no human The earthquake was but Bowie's most troublesome problem still confronted him the He resolved to act at nothing to be gained by temporizing much may be he said to Don Ramon quake has demoralized them couldn't help but do I'm going after them in the you think Take care of To lose you would be to lose the whole battle for the Carmen listened to the decision with uneasiness and but there seemed no only begged Bowie to be Scouting about among the squatters the day had learned that some half dozen of chastened by the fright of the had decided to seek other regions for their But these were the milder mannered of the The hard cases At daybreak the next morning Bowie took Simmie and Pedro with Crossing the he directed his men to ask the squatters to come out for a When six of them had straggled from their shacks on his explained his called you together for a plain explained addressing the six squatters and their following of twice as many scraggly-looking are claiming land here that doesn't belong to Hold Don't all try to talk at Wait till I get through and you can have your You've squatted here on a rancho without leave from without asking are killing the rancho cattle about as you You claim It's to feed you claim that the owner's got more cattle than he needs and you haven't got But you don't say a word about his cattle that you've killed and sold in do Not a word about his beef quarters and hides that you've traded for whisky You don't say a word about raiding the rancho storehouse and helping yourselves to flour and grain and That has happened all that's going to I say nothing more about old about your trying to burn the mission night before last and your demanding that the Indian women be sent out to take You're one and to get off Guadalupe Rancho and off the mission lands in twenty-four hours or to stand your ground with rifles and For tomorrow morning I'll be here to clean this whole mess up and it'll be That's my Now you Deaf Peterson did and he talked loud and stand on our rights as bony settlers and citizens of the United States of he shouted can't scare us n we don't surrender our homesteads for you nor for all the greasers in be here Talk to him if you want if you're looking for a fight you can get one right here now where you're had your retorted Bowie and without further parley he and his companions rode After supper that night there was a council at the quarters of the Guadalupe Bowie had assembled Felipe and three of the hardiest of the cowboys for a The plan of an attack on the squatter stronghold was The suggestion of a daylight assault was abandoned since it was almost certain to result in more casualties than would be likely in a night It was no part of Bowie's plan to shoot any but the rancho must be rid of their trespassing and their Increasing No fixed plan was arrived at that The men chosen were only told to look to their their their and to hunt up a few knots for Bowie understood the value of suspense to worry defenders of a post and made no move to leave the rancho until the next day had It was after midnight when he called together his men and rode quietly away for the Carmen had refused to go to her room until he She was unnerved by the situation and the and she stood with him at midnight in the patio until the last Tears glistened in the moonlight as she lifted her face to the stars In prayer when he rode The raiding party made a wide detour in their approach to the squatter They forded the river well above it and came slowly down through the hills on the farther end of the The moon was high but the chaparral along the river near the Me-lena afforded some protection as the horsemen wound their way through In the silence after the next half-hour one emerging from the stepped to the ramshackle door of the nearest It was built with a patchwork of boards picked up wherever found and dragged by behind a to the camp willow poles chopped from the Melena swamp had been together with strips of condemned sails picked up from the water front of Bowie knocked with the butt of his pistol on the flimsy Inside he A second and louder summons brought a tardy and profane said Bowie want to talk to There was some moving and fumbling about inside with more profane said answering a you behave Open the it came the truculent challenge from Bowie kicked the door open and sprang to one At the same moment a pistol shot rang from within the are you shooting asked Bowie waste your There are twenty men out If you hit one you'll be shot or hanged in ten We're going to fire your If you want come out while you've got a A gaunt and dirty specimen of the American outlaw frontiersman of his day slowly emerged from the interior darkness into the clear moonlight that shone into the He was rigged in a loose ragged shirt and loose ragged He cursed and swore he knew nothing of any had been in Yerba Buena for three and ordered the midnight trespassers off his Bowie made no effort to appease He repeated your belongings out of this shack if you don't want burned The squatter flew Into a rage apparently a planned for he ended it suddenly by pulling a hidden under his trouser band where his shirt hung and Ing it straight into Bowie's It was not quite fast Bowie knocked the barrel aside and laid the butt of his own pistol heavily across the squatter's head as the man sprang to clinch He slammed the squatter aside just as a second man sprang like a panther through the knife in It was a knife with a long taken somewhat by confessed next day it looked a yard He ducked to one but the second a smaller and quicker got the knife point into Bowie's left forearm before the latter could escape The stab served only to enrage the and the wiry squatter took a fast beating from the pistol butt while and Simmie threw and bound the tall buck is a exclaimed turning his smaller captive over to for his It's here somewhere on the Are this No matter about the These fellows don't deserve any But first make sure there Isn't someone drunk and asleep with lighted pitch hurried into and out of the empty The next minute it was The two squatters were dragged away and left bound In the chaparral to work themselves counseled Bowie as he galloped with his men down the whole nest will be that A quarter of a mile brought them to the second It was found and some of the boys suggested your it tied pretty enough for Come another said A burst of gunfire flashed from I the chaparral next the Slugs whistled through the air Felipe was hit but not shouted and he spurred at the They rode down the ambush before the three men within it could Short work was Two of the men were stopped and The dodging rap-Idly through the was pursued by Simmie out of the jerked from his feet by a and finally trussed up with his Their rifles were hunted up in the found and thrown into the Shack after shack of that group was challenged and Each squatter was allowed to save what he The ranch horses they had stolen were claimed by but Bowie quickly repaired his tactical error in claiming can a man get to on foot in this We want to travel fast and Give the At a point where the fed by and along the slope running up toward the lay some of the choicest field acres of the Guadalupe Here as squatter had fixed his own With the airy assurance of a squatter he had re- his man against the solved to take all he wanted for himself and had sworn he would defend Profiting by the absence of resistance from Don Ramon during his long Blood had built upon his claim a rough attempt at a It stood on the brow of rise that overlooked the river for The spot had been well chosen for defense and would Bowie a troublesome obstacle to the When they rode up in the moonlight to Blood's place Bowie gave orders to his scouts and no chances This man is He will shoot to don't let him beat you to Scatter Work around by the Don't yourselves any than you have He had hardly spoken when the scream of a woman surprised A second scream then a succession of growing Bowie's mind worked He passed his rifle to the nearest out and charge A fight inside Is our only he Spreading into a they dashed A second surprise greeted them at the stockade a burst of A vaquero was knocked from his a horse went Bowie and his two Texans galloped through the flimsy stockade to find themselves facing five fighting They emptied their sprang from their saddles and rushed the clubbing their laid hotly about But they were dealing with men familiar with every trick of frontier and the knives of the quick-footed Texans- turned the One of the squatters went out Two of them ran for the and the remaining two threw up their Pricking them the Texan pushed them as unwilling shields toward the A gunshot flashed from the The squatter hostages yelled to the defenders not to shoot leaping to the shack crashed it in and jumped There was no further fire from The came up with loaded torches were and the men followed their leaders An Indian strapped and lay on the Pedro cut her She had been from the Two she told had bound and gagged her when she had tried to Who were Where were Bowie tried to He flung open the back The moonlight streamed A rifle shot rang out and tore into the lintel above his It was from the woods as shoved a screaming squatter into the a second shot came from the protested pulling the squatter victim you want to murder the want to see how many there Is up there said Parda loe And without tion he stepped Into the doorway No shot greeted I jus' two uv Look he shaking the squatter up in the be Deaf Peterson the the squatter I Henry Blood and commented to the exclaimed see how much there is in those look after the Burn the shack and ride after That timber Is not much chance tc The with and the long-bearded Simmie at Bowie's was across an open meadow that exposed the riders to rifle This was held back until the three men were fair moonlight But the were drawn on men spurring hard and heading straight at the The squatter rifles was accounted a dead but the odds that night were against marksmanship from the horse His knees and took a Man and beast rolled violently along the Simmie took a flesh wound under his right riding reached the timber before the squatters could Blood and his companion made no Bowie caught sight of the two dashing through the trees on horseback and gave chase to the one more enraged i than seriously took after the It chanced that Peterson was Bowie was chasing The squatters rode the fresher they were more familiar with the And their not able at every moment to keep their eyes on the chase and dodge among the willows and found their hands fulL Bowie succeeded in chasing his man out of the timber to a stretch of open Both despite the desperate spurring of their were showing the grueling but both held out till day was In the stillness of the early with Bowie straining every effort to keep his man in the mile after went only the flying rhythm of the horses' hoofs broke the silence ushering in a peaceful And where nature offered every possible beauty to calm the heart of two men thundered in deadly enmity across a field of that turned the dull brown of the cropped grass for miles into a glory of golden The Texan with straining eyes held his man against the distant No thought of no thought of restrained The insolence and invasion of a squatter might be But the Texan's thoughts were set on the murder of an unoffending That murderer must be held and and his pursuer meant he should With a sharp Jerk of the bit Blood wheeled suddenly to the away from the poppies and toward the It was a desperate move for hut if the murderer could gain the swamp far enough ahead of his pursuer he could turn on Bowie and pick him off his horse from It was a ten-mile run to the great Mile after mile fled under the drumming feet of the straining Yet even on the fresher could gain but little on his grim Every glance backward from the murderer's sad- die lessened his hope of a chance to reload for a shot after gaining the for alive to the was bent on defeating Sooner than seemed tho two racing on narrowing thundered Into the lush grass of the Melena glancing back over his yelled a defiance halting on the very edge of the whipped out a pistol and threw a shot at his It was an Impossible made from the saddle on a restive horse at more than fifty yet the slug went tearing into Bowie's already pricked right forearm and shattering it between the elbow and With an impatient curse the wounded crouching in his spurred headlong at his But Blood did not wait for the Bowie knew that the squatter must have a second loaded pistol or he never would have fired so wild a shot a shot with which he could at best only have hoped to hit the But Blood did not know that Bowie had thrown away his empty pistols and now carried only a The squatter wheeled and plunged Into the Bowie racing after When hotly pursued bj dashed into the swamp t feathered scream rose from a myriad of birds In their rudely Slinking cats scampered madly from under the plunging hoofs of the two The Melena woke In BE |