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4
The photo-drama correspond
ing to this Installment of "'The
Trey o' Hearts" may be seen
at the Star theatre, today, Mon
day and Tuesday. Subsequent
installments will be published
on this page of The Sunday
Journal Magazine every Sun
day until completed and on the
day of publication and for two
days thereafter readers may
see each installment enacted
at the movies.
Part II The Painted HUls.
SYNOPSIS The Trey of Hearts is
the "death sign" employed by Seneca
Trine in the private war of vengeance
which, through the agency of his
daughter Judith, a woman of violent
passions like his own, he wages
against Alan Law, son of the man.
now dead, who was innocently respon
sible for the accident which rendered
Trine a helpless cripple. Alan loves
Rose. Judith's twin and double, but
in ail other respects her precise oppo
site. Judith promises her father , to
compass Alan's death, but under dra
matic circumstances he saves her life
and so, unwillingly, wins her love.
Thereafter Judith is by turns anii
mated by the old hatred, the new love,
and Jealousy of Rose.
Detail.
ACROSS the plain purple shadows
were sweeping, close ranged, like
some vast dark army invading tho
land, pouring on over the rampart of
mountains in the east.
Detail tquatted peacefully at the
cross-roads, where the single track of
the Santa Fe was intersected by a.
wagon road linking Metc-rite, re
motely removed far beyond the north
ern hill-:, with Mesa, discreetly hidden
away in a canyon of the Tainted hills
in the south.
A platform, a siding, a water tank,
a 'Wells-Kargo office and a telegraph
and ticket office, backed by threo
rough frame buildings; that is Detail
itemized completely.
Shortly atter nightfall the steel
ribbons of the Santa Ke began to hum.
A headlight peered suspiciously round
a shoulder of the eastern range, took
heart of courage to find the plain still
wrapped in peace, and trudged stolidly
toward Detail, the engine whose eye it
was pulling after it a string of freight
cars, both flat and box.
At Detail tho train paused. Its crew
alighted and engaged in animated
argument. Detail gathered that thp
excitement was due to the unaccount
able disappearance, of the caboose;
none seemed to have any notion as to
how it could have broken loose; yet
missing it conspicuously was.
In the pause that followed, while a
report was telegraphed to headquar
ters and instructions returned to pro
ceed without delay, one of the train
men spied a boyish figure lurking in
the open door of an empty box car.
Cunningly boarding this car from the
opposite side, the trainman caught the
skulker unawares and booted him vain
gloriously into the night.
As the figure alighted and took to
its heels, losing itself in the darkness,
it uttered a cry of pained surprise
and protest which drew a wrinkle of
astonishment between the brows of
the trainmen.
Sounded like a woman's voice," he
used; then dismissed the suggestion
as obviously absurd.
Shortly after the freight train had
gone on. ite way before, indeed, tha
glimmer of its rear lights had been
lost among, the western hills a sec
ond headlight appeared in the east,
wept swiftly across the plain and In
turn stopped at Detail.
The' second bird-of-passage proved
to be a locomotive drawing a single
car a Pullman.
Hardly had it run past the switch,
however, when the brakeman dropped
down, ran quickly back to the switch
and threw it open.
Promptly the train backed on to th
siding.
As the Pullman jolted across the
frogs the brakeman. Interposing him
self between it and the tender, re
leased the coupling. Then, springing
back, be waved a semaphoric arm, .and
ran up' the track after the engine,
which immediately reversed and drew
away.. Pausing at the switch only
long -enough to replace it when the
engine had passed, the brakeman
jumped upon the steps of the loco
motive and climbed into the cab.
. By the timfi that the Pullman had
come to a. full stop on the. siding, the
locomotive was swinging westward
like a - scared jackrabbit though no
such mllk-hnd-watery . characterization
of the traitor passed the lips of any
one of three men who . presently ap
peared on the Pullman's platform and
nhook impotent fists in the direction
taken by the fugitive enghie.
: When the last of these had run tem
porarily out of breath and blasphemy,
a brief ilence fell, punctuated by
groans from each, and concluded - by
i lb sound of voice calling from th
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Interior of the car a voice as strange-
ly' sonorous of tone as it was curi-
ously querulous of accent.
The three men immediately ran
back Into the car and presented them-
selves with countenances variously
apologetic, to one who occupied a cor
ner of the drawing room; a man
wrapped in a steamer rug and a cloud
of fury;- at once the propriet6r of
that weirdly resonant voice and an
aged and helpless invalid, powerless
to move any part of his body but bis
head and his left hand. The latter,
however, performed a power of vivid
gesticulation illustrating the several
phases of Ood's wrath which the in
censed invalid called down upon the
heads of the Insubordinate train crew.
Now while this was in process, the
person of boyish appearance, who had
been keeping religiously aloof and in
conspicuous in the background of de
tail ever since that unhappy affair
with the trainman, stole quietly up
to the rear of the stalled Pullman,
climbed aboard, and creeping down
the aisle, unceremoniously interrupted
the conference just as the invalid was
polishing off a rude bu,t honest opin
ion of the intellectual caliber of one
of the three named Marrophat, who
figured as his right hand man and
familiar genius.
"Amen to that!" the boyish person
ejaculated with candid fervor, loung
ing gracelessly in the doorway.
"There's many a true word spoken in
wrath, Mr. Marrophat. Father forgot
only one thing your masterly way
with a revolver. From what I've seen
of that, this day, I'll go bail that the
only safe place for a man you pull
a gun on is right in front or the
muzzle. There s sometning downright
uncanny in the way you can hit any
thing but what you aim at!"
Marrophat lifted his shoulders.
"Nothing much," he allowed. 'I am
only thinking how strange it Is that
Mr. Law can't be caught by any sort
cf stratagem when you are on the
job. Miss Judith!"
The girl's hands were clenched Into
fists, white knckles showing through
the flesh. You contemptible puppy!"
she snapped.
Rut on this her voice failed; for
her eyes traveled past the person of
Mr. Marrophat to the doorway of the
drawing room and found it framing
a stranger a man with a bold eye,
boldly handsome face of bronze, and
a body of such huge bulk that his
head must bow to pass beneath the
linten, while his shoulders all but
touched both jambs.
His dress proclaimed him frankly
for what he was a horseman of the
plains, a native son; and that his cast ,
was that of A chevalier d'industrie
was as plainly demonstrated by the
heavy, old fashioned Colt's forty-five '
that hung level in his either hand.
"Kxcuse me, friends," he offered in
a lazy, semi-humorous drawL "It
pains-me considerable to butt in on
this happy family gathering, but busi
ness is business, same as usual, and
I got to ast you all to please put up
your hands!"
There was little to choose between
the . alacrity with which nine hands
were elevated; but one, the right hand
of tile invalid, remained motionless.
And this the intruder Indicated with
a significant jerk of one revolver.
"You. too, mister," he advised.
"I'm sorry to judge you're sickly, but
I can't afford to Play no favorites!
Both hands is what I meant."
"Shoot," said the invalid, "if you
like. The hand is paralyzed; even
fear of death cannot move it" His
thin lips tightened with a satiric
smile. "What do you want?" he demanded.-
"Why," drawled the bandit, "noth
ing in particular only your cash.
Shell out, if you please gents all and
the lady, too." He ran an apprecia
tive glance down the figure which
Judith's- disguise revealed rather than
concealed. "If you'll pardon my tak
ln notice, be amended. "Perhaps I
wouldn't if the lady's clothes didn't
fit her so all-fired quick!"
"Keep a civil tongue in your head,
my man!" Judith counseled, without
any, Bhow of fear. v..
"Like that, huh?" the holdup man
returned admiringly. "And ' If I
don't"
Dropping her hands, the girl stepped
toward him with a movement of cat
like quickness but not quick enough
to escape bringing, up nose to nose
with" one of the revolvers.
At the same time her father's voice
brought her to her. senses.
"Judith! Be quiet. Let me deal
with this gentleman. I am sure we
can come to some arrangement."
"You bet your life." agreed the gen
tleman as the girl mutinously stepped
back. -1 know what I want, and you
all .know you got it; so the name of
the said arrangement is just 'shell
out:"
"Ono minute," the Invalid inter
posed. "Don't misunderstand me; I
guarantee you shall be amply satis
fied. I give you my word the word
of Seneca Trine.' -w ...
The eyas of the bandit widened.
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. i jV'S.-.'T':'.-
OREGON SUNDAY JOURNAL, PORTLAND, SUNDAY
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I
UP YOUR HANDS"
"No? Is that so? Seneca Trine, the
railroad king? Sure's you're born
you're him; I've seen your picture in
the. papers a dozen times. Well, now,
it looks like I'd drawn a full house
to this pair of deuces, don't it? You
ought to be able to pay something
handsome "
"I'll pay you far more handsomely
than you dream of if you'll do as I
wish," Trine interrupted quickly. "Do
me the service 1 wish and name your
price; whatever it is, you shall have
itl"
"Nothing could be fairer'n thatr the
two-gun man admitted suspiciously.
"Rut what's the number of this here
service like you call it?"
"Listen to me." Trine bent his
head forward and jabbed the air with'
an emphatic forefinger. "Wbat's the
life of a man worth In this neck of
the woods?"
"How much you got?"
. "I'll pay you ten thousand dollar
for the life of the man I will name."
. The eyes of the . bandit narrowed.
"Hold on, my friend; is that what you
call my naming my own price?''
"Name it, then," said Seneca Trine
tersely.
"Give me a thousand on account,"
said the other? "and a paper saying
you'll pay me nineteen thousand more
in exchange for it and one dead man,
properly identified as the one you
want signed by you and your man's
as good as dead this minute, provid
ing he's in riding distance of this
here car."
Trine waved his hand at his secre
tary. "Jimmy, find a thousand dol
lars for this gentlemafi. .Make out the
paper he indicates ior me oiuiuko,
1 11 sign it.
Ain't von rxrwfvrf al trustful. Mr.
Trine? How do you know TU do any
thing more'n pocket that thousand and
fade delicately away."
"My daughter and thlr gentleman,
Mr. Marrophat, will accompany you."
"Oh, that's the way of It, is it?"
"Precisely," Trine snapped.
The bandit stroked - his jaw. "All
right," he agreed at length, after a
deliberately admiring review of Ju
dith's charms an attention whidi she
rewarded by turning her back
"you're on as aforesaid."
"Name?' interjected the secretary,
writing busily with the top of his at
tache case for a desk.
"Slade," said the bandit. "James
Slade. commonly known as Hopi Jim.
That's me." ,
"Then attend closely, Mr. Slade.'
Again Trine punctured the atmosphere
with his index finger. "The man whose
life I want is named Alan Law. He is
running away with my daughter. Rose,
accompanied by a person named Bar
cus, disguished as a Pullman porter
"The three of them having recent'
escaped from a. train wreck up yonder
on the trestle?" Hopi Jim interporsed.
"You've met them?" Judith demand
ed, whirling round.
"About an hour ago, or maybe an
hour and a half." Hopi Jim replied; 'a
good ways down the road. They
stopped and asked where they could get
put up for the night. I kindly direct
ed them on to Mesa, down in the Paint
ed hills yonder.
Fireplay.
WITHIN 15 minutes this extremely
nice affair involving the murder
Of a gentleman had been " ar
ranged to the satisfaction of both
principals, mutually impressed as they
were with each other's bloody minded
sincerity of purpose.
Contented with the promise of a
thousand dollars advance on hiscon
tract, providing he returned with
-horses within a stipulated time, Mr.
Hopi James Slade drifted quietly away
into the desert night.
Well content, persuaded that the
morrow's sun would never set upon a
world tenanted by one Alan Law, that
monomaniac, Seneca Trine, forgot his
recent ill temper and set himself dip
lomatically to adjust the differences
between his daughter, Judith, and his
first lieutenant, Marrophat,
Submissive, at least in outward
seeming. Judith bowed to this decision,
.marched out of the car, and suffered
Marrophat to help her mount her
horse; a service which she needed no
at all, and only accepted because if
amused her somewhat, in her Vicious",
humor, to watch rivalry wax warm
between her father's man . arid' Hopi
Jim. For Marrophat had almost el-
bowed the gunman out of the way, to
be first at Judith's stirrup.
Now, deliberately, as the little caval-
cade rode through the moonlit desert
night, the girl maneuvered her horse
to the side of Hopi Jim, and then
dropped back, permitting Marrophat to
lead the way with Texas.
As deliberately she set herself to work
upon the bandit's susceptibility to her
charms; enchahting him with a show
of wondering admiration, listening all
ears and sighs to his braggadocio; be
witching him by the ease with which
she made nothing of his clumsy ad
vances, with imperceptible pleasures of
her foot against the flank of her well
trained mount, causing it to evade the
y fit " S
TRAINMAN CAUGHT SKULKER UNAWARES
other's efforts to ride in closer, within
arm's length of this woman whom he
coveted and who seemed so well in
clined to favor him.
Within an hour she had him ready to
do anything to win her smile.
But, with that accomplished, she
was still in doubt how best to use him
without revealing her design.
And dawn, streaming in gloriously
over the Painted hills; found her still
pondering that vexatious problem; how
to play with fire and escape burned
fingers.
In that first rush of golden day
athwart the land, the party came
quietly into the town of Mesa, riding
slowly in order that the noise of their
approach might not warn the fugitives,
whom Hopi asserted confidently would
still be sound asleep in the acommo
dations offered by the town's one
hotel.
It was to be termed a town only in
courtesy, this Mesa; a straggling
street of shacks, ramshackle relics of
what had once been a promising com
munity, the half way station between
the railroad and the mining camps se
creted in the fastnesses of the Painted
hills camps now abandoned, . their
very names almost faded out of the
memory of mankind.
Midway in this string of edifices the
hotel stood a rough, unpainted, wooden
edifice, mainly verandah and barroom
as to its lower floor.
Jealously Judith watched the win
dows of the second floor; and she alone
of the four detected the face that
showed for one brief instant well back
in the shadows beyond one of the bed
room windows a face that glimmered
momentarily with the pallor of a
ghost's against the background of that
obscurity, and then was gone.
Her eyes alone, indeed, could have
recognized the features of Alan Law in
that fugitive glimpse.
And, recognizing, she kept her coun
sel rode on in grim silence, with a
lowering countenance screening the
struggle that rent her bosom, where
in love and Jealousy contended not only
for the life of this man whom she
loved and who would have none of her,
but also for possession of her very
soul.
;The battle was still In suspense,
when, alighting with every precaution
to avoid unusual noise, the party left
its horses 'hitched to the ground" and
entered the hotel.
Two sentences exchanged between
Hopi Jim and & blear eyed fellow whom
he roused from sodden slumbers behind
the bar sealed their confidence with
conviction; the three fugitives were in
fact guests of the house, occupying two
of the three rooms that composed its
upper story.
In the rush that followed up the nar
row stairway, Judith led with such
spirit that not even Marrophat sus
pected her revolver was poised solely
with Intent to shoot from his hand his
own revolver the Instant he leveled it
at a human target.
Closed and locked doors confronted
them; and their summons educed no
response; while the first door, when
broken in by a whole souled kick, dis
covered nothing more satisfactory than
an empty room, its bed bearing the im
print of a woman's body, but that wo
rn a n gone.
Followed a swift rush of hoofs down
the dusty street, and a chorus of blas
phemy in the hotel hallway; for Judith
had headed the concerted rush for the
staircase and contrived to block it for
a full half minute by pretending to
stumble and twist her ankle.
In spite of that alleged injury, she
never limped, and wasn't a yard be
hind the first who broke from the hotel
to the open, nor yet appreciably behind
him in vaulting to saddle.
Well up the road a cloud of smoky
dust half obscured the shapes of three
whorode for their very lives.
The pursuit was off in a twinkling
and well bunched Marrophat's mount
leading by a nose, Judith second, Hopi
Jim and Texas but Httl3 in the rear.
And in the first rush they seemed to
gain; moment by moment they drew
up on the flying cloud of dust.'
Then that happened which brought
Judith's heart into her mouth. One of
the horses ridden by the three stum
bled and fell, wallowing In the road-
way. In such wise that its rider must
have been crushed but for miraculous
luck and agility.
For before she could see whose horse
it was, while still she feared the rider
might have been Alan, s. puff of wind
whipped the curtain of dust aside ano
showed the figure of a woman stand-
ing in the roadway a few feet distant
from -the -fallen horse tose, wno naa
somehow managed to fall upon her
feet, waiting with her brigHt face of
confidence for Alan to overtake her. -
And Alan; who, it appeared, bad
been riding well to the . rear, was
abreast her in a flasa.
Leaning out as he swept up, with
out drawing rein, the man wrapped an
arm round the woman and lifted her
lightly from the ground, setting her
in the saddle before him in the flutter
of a heart beat.
As If the added weight were but
MORNING, OCTOBER 18,
1914.
a stimulant, his horse let out its
stride. . . .
At this, Judith heard an oath mut
tered beside her and saw Marrophat
jerking a revolver from its holster.
The weapon swept up and to a level;
but as the hammer fell, Judith's horse
carromed heavily against the other,
swinging it half a dozen feet aside,
and deflecting the bullet hopelessly.
The shock of collision was so great
that Marrophat kept his seat with dif
ficulty. He turned toward Judith a
face livid with rage.
'Simultaneously, as if taking the shot
as the signal for a fusillade, Judith
saw Alan lean back over his horse's
rump and open fire.
An instant later his companion. Bar
cus. imitated his example.
In immediate consequence, Texas
dropped reins, slumped forward over
the pummel, wabbled weakly in his
saddle for a moment, then losing the
stirrups, pitched headlong to the
ground; while Hopi Jim's horse
stopped short, precipitating his rider
overhead, and dropped dead.
III The Upper Trail.
I
N TID3 10 minutes' delay necessitated
by this reverse, a number of more
or less Innocent bystanders picked
up the man Texas and carried him off
to breathe his last beneath a roof;
Hopi Jim picked himself up, Drusnea
his person tolerably clear of clouds oi
dust and profanity, and departed lr
search of a' mount to replace the horse
that had been shot from under him; and
Judith sat on her horse calmly, smiling
sweet Insolence into the exasperated
countenance of Marrophat.
Incidentally the fugitives dis
appeared round a bend in the road that
led directly into the wild and barred
heart of the Painted hills.
"It was simply an accident," was all
the satisfaction Judith would afford
Marrophat in return for his insistent
expostulations.
But for her, he asserted, the chase
would have ended with the pressure of
his finger on the trigger.
"I had him covered, I tell you!" he
raved. "If you'd minded your horse,
we'd be on our way back to your father
now with the body of Alan Law!"
Mumbling his indignation, the man
swung his horse round and trotted off
after Hopi Jim, leaving the girl to
smile openly at his discomfiture.
But she smiled prematurely, it ap-
peared; for in the brief interval that
elapsed before his return with Hopi
Jim, Marrophat contrived to persuade
the bandit that Judith had been, at
least indirectly, responsible for the
catastrophe, with the upshot that, tem
porarily blinded to her fascinations by
the glitter of $19,000 in the near dis
tance. Mr. Slade maintained his dis
tance and a deaf ear to her blandish
ments. The only information as to
their purpose that she was able to
extract from either man, when the
pursuing party turned aside from the
main trail, some distance from Mesa,
was that Hopi Jim knew a -short cut
through the range, via what he termed
the upper trail, by which they hoped
to be able to head the fugitives off
before they could gain the desert on
the far side of the hills.
Only at long intervals did they draw
rein to permit Hopi Jim to make
reconnoissance of the lower trail that
threatened the valley on the far side of
the ridge pole.
Toward noon he returned in haste
from the last of these surveys
scrambling recklessly down the moun
tain side and throwing himself upon
his horse with the advice:
"We've headed 'em can make it now
if we ride like all get-out!"
For half an hour more they pushed
on at the best speed to be obtained
from their weary animals, at length
drawing rein at a point where the trail
crossed the fidge and widened out
upon a long, broad ledge that overhung
the valley of the lower trail, with a
clear drop to the latter from the brink
of a good 200 feet.
One hasty look back and down into
the valley evoked a grunt of satisfac
tion from Hopi Jim.
"Just in time," he asseverated. "Here
; they come! Ten minutes more "
His smile answered Marrophat's
with' unspeakably cruel significance.
"Texas will sleep better tonight
when he knows, how I've squared the
' deal for him," the bandit declared.
"What are you going to do?" Judith
demanded, reining her horse in beside
Marrophat as the latter dismounted.
A gesture drew her attention to a
huge boulder poised insecurely on the
very lip of the chasm.
"We're going to tip that over on
your friends. Miss Judith!" Marrophat
replied, with a smack of relish In his
voice. "'Simple neat efficient eh?
What more can you ask?"
She answered only with an irrepres
sible gesture of horror. Marrophat's
laugh followed her as she turned away.
For some moments she strained her
vision vainly, endeavoring to penetrate
the turbulent currents of superheated
& LOUI
JOSEPH Vy
fro : ral cfhl
i
THE ESCAPE FROM THE MESA
air that filled the valley. Then she
made out indistinctly the faintly
marked line of the lower train; and
immediately she caught a glimpse of
three small figures, mounted, tolling
painfully toward the point where death
awaited them like a bolt from the blue.
Hastily she glanced over shoulder:
Hopi Jim and Marrophat, ignoring her,
were straining thenselves against the
boulder without budging it an inch, for
all its apparent nicety' of poise. For
an instant a wild hope flashed through
her mind, but it was immediately ex
orcized when Hopi Jim stepped back
and uttered a few words of which only
two "dynamite' and "fuse" reached
her ears.
Then he turned and lumbered heav
ily off to a rude and weather beaten
plank cabin which, almost entirely
hidden in the brush that hedged th4
trail, had until that moment escaped
Judith's notice.
In a space of time incredibly brief
he had kicked open the door, entered
and returned, bringing in one hand a
short length of dynamite, in the other
a coil of prepared fuse and a small
spade. ,
Kneeling beside the boulder he dug
busily for an instant, then lodged the
stick to his satisfaction, attached the
fuse, and breaking off, edged on his
belly to tne edge of the cliff and
looked down, carefu
icngin or the fuse by the distance of
the party down below from the spot
where the rock must fall.
But- while he was so engaged and
Marrophat aided him. all earer tnt-
Jt JudUh was taktPK advantage of ,
their disregard of her.
Love had changed the nature of this
woman almost beyond her own appre
ciation. A fortnight since she would
have stood by and applauded the in
genuity of the scheme, callous to the
hideousness of the end it was designed
to compass. Today 3ne rejt
a little faint and sick when she con
sidered what might befall weic she
unable to give warning.
Hurriedly unbuttoning her jacket,
she whipped a playing card from her
pocket, a Trey of Hearts, and- with
the stub of a pencil scribbled three
words on its face "Danger! Go back"
Then finding a small, flatfish bit
of rock, she bound the card to it
with a bit of string; and with one
more backward glance to make sure
she was not watched, approached the
brink.
Hopi Jim was metriciouafv nhnrn.
J" Vle fus. Marrophat kn-eling by
his side.
In the canyon below the three were
within two minutes of the danger
point.
It was no trick at all to drop I he
stone so that it foil within a dozen
feet of the leading horseman.
She saw him rein In suddenly, dis
mount, cast a look aloft, then pick
up the warning..
As the others Joined him. he' de
tached the card and showed it to
them.
At the same time Hopi Jim and
Marrophat jumped up and ran back,
each seizing and holding his horse
by nose and bridle.
Constrained to do likewise lest sne
lose her mount. Judith waited with a
lightened heart.
The explosion smote dull echoes
from the flanks of the Painted hills,
all drowsing in the noonday hush; the
boulder teetered reluctantly on' the
brink, then disappeared with a tear
ing sound, followed by a rush of
earth and gravel; a wide gap ap
peared in the brink of the trail.
Leaving Marrophat to hold the two
frightened horses while the girl
soothed her own. the bandit rushed
to the edge, threw himself flat and
swore bitterly, with an accent of
grievance, as he rose.
From the canyon below a dull ru
mor of galloping hyofs advertised
too plainly the failure of their at
tempt. And Hopi Jim turned back only to
.find Judith, mounted, reining hpr
horse in between him and Marrophat,
and prepared to give emphasis to what
she had to say with an automatic
pistol that nestled snugly in her palm.
"One moment, Mr Slade." she sug
gested evenly, "just a moment' be
fore you break the sad news to Mr.
Marrophat. I've something to say
that needs your attention likewise
your respect. It is this: I am part
ing company with you and Mr. Mar
rophat. I am riding on toward the
west, by this trail. If either of you
care to follow me" the automatic
flashed ominously in the sun glar
"it. will be with full knowledge of
the consequences, Mr. Marrophat will
enlighten you if you have any doubt
of my ability to take care of myself
in such affairs as this. If you are
.well advised, you will turn back and
"report failure to my father."
She nodded curtly and swung her
horse round.
"And that ain't all." Mf. Slade con
fided in Mr. Marrophat. whipping out
bis own revolver; "you're being held
up. too. I'll take those runs of yourn.
pu. .r :
r? . "i
5 i ".I-"
WW H : ;
I" '
-.I 1
HOTEL
1,1
friend, and what else youVe got about
you that's of ,value, including your
hoss and when you get back to OJd
Man Trine you can Just t"U him, with
my best compliments, trfat I've quit
the job and lit out afte'rthat daugh
ter of his'n. She's a hea::sight more
attractive than $19,000, ind not half
so hard to earn!" ;,
IV Burnt Fixgers.
ONCE she had lost toch with fjr
father's creatures, (he girl drew
rein and went on; more slo'w
ly and cautiously. J'-!
Below her, in the valfey, the lower
trail wound its facileHway. From
time to time she couldjdlscern upon
some naked stretch of its length a
cloud of dust, or perhapthree mount
ed figures, scurrying mildly on. jrith
fear of death snapping t their heila.
It was within an houf of midnifght.
a night bell-clear and fitter cold ion
the heights, and brlghj ,.; with moon
light, when Alan's palty made s its
last pause and camped lo rest against
the dawn, unconsclous'Sof the .fact
that, a quarter of a nif above tgetn
on the upper trail, a dnely wtrjhian
paused when they pau&i'i .nd njiad
her own camp on the ede a tkxrp
declivity choosing the:.. is pot becjkuse
It afforded her a clear siriew of their
twinkling campfire.
She made no fire officer own, but
consumed the last of Jthe provisions
she had brought 'with
'her from the
Pullman, by advice ; Hopi
Jim.
long
against the contingency'; of
chase through that atd and sterile
land; then wrapped In i blanket' .'and
lay down to rest, herjfast conscious
act the wafting of a krss down t9 the
depths whose shadows ld the maa she
loved. ... 1 s
The level shafts ofhe rising sun
awakened her. She safiip, rubbed her
eyes, yawned, stretchgn limbs "stiff
with the hardship of .JFjeeping osj un
yielding, sun-baked eith and of a
sudden started up suy prised by: the
grating of footsteps on tho eart'ai be
hind her. -.2
Before she could turaj howevei1, she
was caught and wraprjjsi in thesirms
of Hopi Jim. His fac4 f bronzes bent
over her, smiling in h triumph of
his cunning;, his breath fanned'; ser
cheek, hot with his tfeslre; hi! lips
threatened hers Imminently. .
Only for an Instant (she remained
motionless in the rjiin's embrace,
transfixed with surpr-'tae and horror
and the thought thn4 here in ; fair
measure was her reward for hiiving
played with fire. S
Then, without warning, she was; like
a steel spring that be taught to ijupple
to his will. She fotfjrnt him ftke a
wildcat, kicking, Ijftlng, tearing,
scratching, sobbing, piipting. despair
ing and fought but t$j more fiercely
as despair grew more Jjark in her con
sciousness. 1 "ti
His strength was bTq hut lncoritesti
ble. His arms yielded? only to gain aa
advantage. Steadily Jdespite alj her
struggles, they drew hrr closer, and
still more Close. Evy his loathsome
mask pressed nearer"tb the gj(Hl of
that caress i "
She mastered all lf strength and
wits and will for onQ last struggle
and in a frenzied morisnt managed to
break his hold-a triflse,i enough to en
able her to snatch at jthe pistol hang
ing from her belt presentf it at
his head. : 5 ; . !'
But it exploded harmlessly, spend
ing its bullet on the Hue of the loom
ing sky. The band itiioght tor wrist
in time, thrust it asr and subjected
it to such a cruel pleasure and; such
savage wrenchings ;thjat the Lbistol
dropped from finges nurnbedj witir
pain. ?i 1 . ':' ;
And now all hints f mercy left bis
eyes; remained only the glare of rage.
He put forth all hia Strength ; irf turn,
and Judith was as a !ii)ll in bis handa.
In half a minute hej iad her hffplens,
in as much mora hepgfeack was break
ing across his kneejhlle he.fbound
her with loop after ly)p of his rprwblde
lariat. 'a'i fi
She panted a prayer for mercy. He
laughed in her facev! bent and j kissed
her- brutally, and stepped back, still
laughing, to admire mm handiwork . .
Thus he stood for sjlUnstant between
the horse and the edjrelof the declivity,
a fair mark, stark a&ainst the aiy, for
one who stood in Virje vallej "helow,
fondling bis rlflo wth eager , fingers,
waiting Just such opfrtunity vfith th
Impatience that he jd waited lit ever
since the noise of tbris kicktd over
the edge by the stggling mim and
woman had drawnShis attention , to
what was going onabove. ;
As Alan pressedfthe trigger and
thes hot sounded cjejtt In the raorning;
ing stillness, JuiitHaw a loblg-of ag
grieved amazement :apross the jfaoe of
Hopi Jim Blade. si J j .
Then he threw his .hands out clawed
blindly at the air. 2 staggered,;, reeled
against the horse's flank so heavily
that it shied in frfht, and yhruptly
. shot from sight vtr' the edge of the
bluff.
(To Be Continued Next Stxn-
IS .