(I
rH
By FRANK H. SPEARMAN
© Frank H. Spearman
W NU Sconce
CHAPTER XVI—Continued
her face into her hands, shudder­ “ But not a fruitless one. 1 went ring his own. Not until they were
—16—
ing.
out to capture a very wild horse and well out of range did he slow up.
They had ridden miles and miles
“ Don't say, don’t try to say, se­ managed at last to coax him into
“ What was that shot, Henry?”
before Carmen slackened pace and ñ orita!”
the corral."
asked Carmen.
looked over with a laugh at her com­
“ From worse than death. For
Dry old Don Ramon interposed
Bowie was thoroughly enraged but
panion. "Oh, I haven't had so glori­ months we two lay ill, our lives an impudent question. “ What did
he spoke quietly. “ Just another mes­
ous a run since—I can’t remember were given up. Terecita died from your wild horse coax you into?"
senger from Blood—to make sure I
when. Not, anyway, since you left brain fever. I, poor I, could not
Carmen met the attack without a
Guadalupe. My poor pony—I must die. My aunt, Don»*Maria, took me tremor. "Nothing to speak of. The know he’s out of ja il." Then he ex­
breathe him .” They walked the for her own. She and dear Don important thing is, California can ploded, unable to restrain himself
horses. A dell opened on one side Ramon adopted me. For years aft count one more caballero. Don Hen­ longer. "A man who’d do that in
Texas would be shamed out of the
of the tra il they were following
erward, señor, I would start out of ry Bowie is coming back to Guada­ country. I t ’s all right to take a pot
Bowie pointed. "That's a lush a sound sleep screaming and sob­ lupe.”
shot at me; I don’t object to that.
stand of grass over there. Shall we bing. At other times horrible dreams
Dona Maria rose to her feet, clap­ But to take one when it endangers
let the ponies nibble a bit?”
assailed me.
ping her hands. “ Glorious!”
the life of a woman! It only shows,”
“ They deserve it, don’t you
“ It was Dr. Doane and, most of
“ He has promised to stay.”
he added after an ominous silence,
think?”
all, the help of my religion and the
“ Better and better."
"what a dog this fellow is. One of
“ I think whatever you think, se­ ministrations of blessed Padre Mar­
“ But, of course," continued Car­ us w ill have to get out of this coun­
ñorita.”
tinez that brought me through those men blandly, “ you never can tell try ."
“ What nonsense!” Carmen drew terrible years. Dear Padre M arti­ about really wild horses.”
On the morning following Pardo-
herself up in her saddle. “ I be­ nez! When everybody else despaired
“ They are serviceable only when
lieve I'm tired. Where’s poor Pe­ of my recovery he, almost alone, actually brought to b it," observed loe rode out to Guadalupe. He was
dro? Oh, he’s coming, isn’t he? supported me and told me I must Don Ramon dispassionately. “ Fe­ welcomed noisily by the vaqueros
and, having brought a goodly sup­
We did ride fast. There seemed to and should get well.
lipe,” he said to the houseboy, “ here ply of f»or tobacco, made the cow­
be something inside me just urging
“ For that reason—all my illness— is a key to the wine cellar. Bring
me to speed on. Funny, isn’t it, when I became the foster daughter three bottles of the 1830 champagne boys happy by passing it around.
"Ben is to be your boss, boys,”
how impulses act?”
of Guadalupe it was strictly forbid­ . . . It was a good vintage,” he
explained Bowie. “ And you are all
" I f you are tired let's get down a den for anyone ever to mention the observed, addressing Bowie.
to carry pistols now, along with
moment. I think your cinches are tragedy or the fact that I was not
The Tejano left in the morning for
giving a little, anyway," he added their very own child . . . This is a the fort to break away from Sutter. your lariats and knives. Within
three months I 'll have six-shooters
hypocritically. “ Who hooked you very long story—”
It was difficult to make his peace, for all of you—they’re ordered and
up?”
“ I can’t tell you how deeply I but the captain was not wholly un­ paid for. We’ve got a bunch of
“ Felix, I think it was.”
feel it, señorita."
reasonable. Bowie took him into pesky squatters on the other side
When he asked his inconsequent
“ You asked me why I was afraid his confidence, and in the end the of the river above the Melena. They
question — for words were spoken of being carried away. I have told
expect to gobble up Guadalupe.
now only to conceal thoughts—he you. And I had a reason much more
They’re mistaken, but they don’t
was on his feet, waiting to take her grave for recounting all this, Señor
know it yet. We’ve got to set ’em
down from the saddle. She slipped Bowie. And a confession to make.
right on that point—that’s why I
into his arms, neither too freely nor Monica, my Indian nurse, is still liv­
sent for your old foreman, Ben Par­
too restrainedly, but inevitably, for ing. She lives with my brother near
daloe.
an instant, into his arms. That in­ San Diego. Once in a long, long
‘Now don’t misunderstand me.
stant was to plunge both into an time Monica comes away up here to
Don’t start a fight with this scum
ocean whose waters had been see me.
yourselves—let them start it. But
dreamed of but never before felt.
“ Do you remember. Señor Bowie,
if you see one of them riding any­
She drew back almost guiltily as that among the portraits at Guada­
where on the rancho, order him off.
she smoothed her riding skirt and, lupe there is one of you?”
If he puts up a fight and you think
without looking directly at him,
“ I remember.”
you can handle him, well and good
murmured a thank you. When she
“ Monica, the instant she saw your
—go after him. If you think you
saw him throw the lines of the po­
can’t, whistle for help. If you catch
nies, and they began cropping, her picture, screamed. When I quieted
one of them running off so much as
heart beat faster: he meant to linger her these were the words she spoke:
'That is the man who brought you
a sick calf, go after him fast with
a while.
back to me at Los Alamos!* ”
your lariat and gun and don’t give
Pedro rode slowly up. “ Pedro,”
him a chance to shoot first. Pow­
Her voice broke. She hid her face
said Bowie, “ ride up to the Melena
der and lead are cheap. I t ’s better
and look about for any bogged cows in her hands.
to shoot half a second too soon than
He spoke quietly. “ Don’t let that
before the squatters get them. If
one
hundredth part of a second too
upset
you.
It
might
easily
be
a
we do not follow you look for us
late—remember that. This rancho
mistake. She could hardly remem­
here on your way back.”
belongs to your master, Don Ra­
As the vaquero spurred off, Car­ ber after so many years, señorita.”
mon, and these squatters must be
" I argued with her. 'You told
men sat down on the grass with a
taught that it does.”
pleasing sweep of her voluminous me those men were heavily beard­
ed,’
I
said.
‘This
man
is
smooth
“ These boys,” explained Bowie
skirt, took off her hat and let the
afterward to Pardaloe and Simmie,
sea breeze play through her hair. faced.’ She only shook her head.
‘That,’ she said over and over, ‘is
“ have been cowed by Blood and
“ See!” she exclaimed, pointing as the man who laid you in my arms
his bunch, who have been doing
he threw himself on the ground be­ at Los Alamos!’
about as they please. We re going
side her. “ There’s the bay. Isn’t
to call Blood’s bluff, and you boys
“ I was shaken almost to death
“ I remember.”
it gorgeous! I don’t think I ever by her story, señor. Shouldn’t you
know how to do it. I ’m going to
found this nook before.”
be? Señor Bowie, were you that veteran promised to come
get him for killing Sanchez, if for
“ Señorita,” he said, plucking a man? Try to recollect.”
dance at the wedding.
nothing else. What’s the talk in
blade of grass and paying no atten­
A week went before Bowie, very Monterey, Ben?”
He stared at the grass by his
tion to her words, “ something you side. At length he shook his head impatient, could get back to Guad­
"Well, they say Blood's friends
said at dinner last night set me slowly. “ She must have been mis­ alupe. Fortunately, in the circum­ let him loose. I saw Deaf Peterson
thinking.”
taken.” Plucking at the grass, he stances, he reached the rancho in there one night, and he acted mean.
“ How could anything 1 might say added with a slight tremor, “ I wish the evening. The night was clear. He's squatting over there with
set you thinking, Señor Tajano?” she it were true.”
A full moon was rising over the Blood. The talk—and I guess it ’s
asked, plucking a blade of grass
But Carmen had not done: she mountains, and just within the patio so—is that Blood has got together
herself.
only pressed her victim more close­ a slender girlish figure, wearing the twenty or thirty guerillas, and he
“ You said you could now ride ly. “ Knowing you as well as I now very highest of her combs and claims he’s going to clean the coun­
without fear of being carried off. do, señor, perhaps better than you draped in her most elaborate Chi­ try up. They’re tough birds, and
Why should you feel afraid of such think,” she continued, “ I felt it nese shawl, waited to greet him. blood’s got a special spite against
a thing? Surely you don’t think these would be well to talk first to Señor
“ Three nights,” she whispered Guadalupe.”
miserable squatters would dare do Pardaloe, because I knew he came when she could catch breath to
“ And Guadalupe's got a special
that?”
with you to California and might ex­ speak, “ three nights I have waited
She was silent so long that he plain it. I did talk with him. He here long, long for you. Wicked spite against Blood,” remarked
looked up at her for an answer. confirmed the story absolutely, even Tejano, to keep a poor, poor girl Bowie. “ But if the cuss does get
When she spoke her expression had to the beard. Señor Bowie, you are shivering out here in the cold. You a bunch of guerillas together they
can do mischief. No matter. We’ll
completely changed. She was seri­ the man.”
need not make excuses. I know just have to look alive till I can
ous. “ Shall I tell you?” she asked
Struggling no longer with pent-up you just forgot me. How are you, get my hands on him again.”
in a tone quite new to him.
querido? And now that you have_
emotion, she burst into tears.
“ He claims he’s aim in’ to get
“ Why not?” he said simply.
“ Why, why, should this upset you what you call it—a job, you must his hands on you,” grinned Parda­
“ When I was a child,” she said, so señorita?” he pleaded. “ It may ask Don Ramon in the morning for loe.
“ a dreadful tragedy came into my only possibly be true. And if it his daughter’s hand—if you think her
“ I ’m easier to find than he is,
life. First I must tell you, señor, I were . . . ”
worth it. I, myself, don’t. But I Ben. But we’ll get together some
am not the daughter of Dona Maria
Her eyes, as she raised them to have heard it said that there is no day.”
and Don Ramon. Dona Maria is his, flashed through the tears. “ And accounting for tastes.”
Pardaloe and Simmie went to
my aunt. My real father’s rancho if it were?’’ she echoed slowly and
Don Ramon made the asking easy Monterey next day after powder
near San Diego was raided one gravely. “ It has been the dream of for Bowie. “ If Carmen had done and lead and extra pistols and to
dreadful day by Indians. They mur­ my life sometime, somewhere, to as I wished she would have been pick up what they could concerning
dered my father and would have meet that man. In my heart I have yours long ago. You are welcome Blood’s whereabouts. Bowie intend­
murdered my mother, had it not said, ‘I f I can ever find that man I to my household, Senor Bowie. I ed to raid the squatters the day
been for the plea of her Indian w ill wipe his feet with my hair
trust you two may be happy to­ following the return of the two
maid, Monica. As it was, the agony w ill serve him at table. I w ill be gether and may provide for Guad­ scouts. He himself, on the day they
and terror that Mother suffered that his handmaiden for life.’ ”
alupe the descendants for which left, took his vaqueros into the foot­
day killed her within a few weeks.
“ Henry,” she exclaimed, holding my wife and I have vainly longed.” hills to round up the herd from
There were three of us children left out her hand for him to help her
The betrothal was made an pcca- which steers were being run off by
orphans: an older brother, my up, “ how do you think I have stood sion of festivity at the rancho, cul­ squatters
and raiders.
younger sister Terecita, and myself. it since Monica told me it was you?” minating in a formal dinner to which
That day Carmen took Felipe with
My brother was not at home and
“ Could it indeed have been I? Padre Martinez and his assistant her to go over to the mission on a
so escaped. The Indians set fire to Could that sobbing little brown-eyed and Aunt Ysabel from Monterey joyous errand. She wanted to talk
the ranch house and carried my girl I carried that day on my shoul­ were summoned. The household and over with Padre Martinez arrange­
sister and myself away with them der be this magnificent woman who the guests sat at table late and had ments for a wedding.
into the mountains.”
stands before me now? Carmen!” gathered in the living room with a
She found the padre a little thin­
“ My sister and I were at the mer­ His voice threw more into the words fire in the huge fireplace.
While the talk went on Felipe ner-each visit marked him as soon­
cy of the savages. I don’t remem­ than she had ever heard from hu­
er to become a walking skeleton.
ber much of this—1 was too young, man lips. “ I love you. I have came in to whisper a message to But happily, he told her, he had
and I was insane with terror, I loved you from the first moment I Bowie. He excused himself and was not been molested by raids for some
do seem to remember a stormy ever saw you, Carmen. That is the gone only a few minutes. When he time and prayed and hoped for a
night, a terrible fight, and being reason I had to leave Guadalupe. returned Carmen looked at him long relief from depredation. His
snatched up with my sister and car­ That is the reason I never could questioningly, but he ignored all guard? Yes, he had his dozen Mexi­
ried away by other Indians—at least stand it to come back to Guada­ curiosity concerning his absence can soldiers; they were good fel­
I thought them such. But both Ter­ lupe and yet stay apart from you. from the room and no one asked lows but were eating him out of
further.
ecita and I were so far gone we Now you know everything!”
It was only when he and Carmen house and home. Today they had
knew little of what went on about
Her composure, as she stood,
were
alone after the guests had left gone down, likewise, his administra­
us.
astounded him. It was now he who
tor, to San Jose for a fiesta; he
“ But Monica, our faithful nurse, must work to control his voice and and he was bidding her good nigi t was afraid some of them would
that he answered her question.
has told me that four days after words.
" I t was a messenger from Dr. come back drunk. And his poor In­
the burning of the rancho and the
“ Henry," she said. His name on Doane.
Felipe w ill put him up for dians—they had mostly turned hunt­
murders my sister and I were her lips maddened him. He caught
ers and trappers to keep from starv­
the
night.”
brought back to the rancho by three her hands. “ Do you know every­
ing. But, Deo gracias, they were
“
But
what
did
he
want?”
white men with heavy beards. They thing?” she asked. “ Not quite—not
“ He brought a message from the firm in their faith. He wished that
could speak no Spanish; she could how shamefully silly I once was. I
doctor
to let me know that Blood his soldiers behaved as well.
not understand a word they said, don’t know whether you can ever
The scene that afternoon was as
is
out
again. He broke ja il to­
and they were not going to leave forgive me. But since you have told
peaceful as the message from the
night
at
Monterey.”
us with her until our old Padre me what you have just now told
Bowie was in Monterey next day other world which the mission had
Pasqual happened along, walking me, Henry—what more must I tell
on business. His business was with brought to men. The few girls and
down from San Gabriel. The men, you?”
women remaining were busy with
Ben Pardaloe. When they had fin­ their
or at least one of them, talked by
varied tasks.
ished
their
conference
Ben
had
en­
signs with the padre, and he as­
Carmen took supper with the pad­
CHAPTER X V II
gaged
to
return
to
Guadalupe.
A
sured them it would be all right to
fortnight later Bowie was riding re and his assistant, and with Fe­
turn us over to Monica.”
Dona Maria may or may not have along the river with Carmen. She lipe started for home in the cool of
“ Señorita,” said her companion guessed things when the young mis­
the evening. They had not ridden
gently, “ this is too hard on you. You tress of the rancho appeared at the had asked to visit the quarter of far when the Indian signified Car­
the
rancho
threatened
by
the
squat­
are suffering. Don’t tell any more dinner table. Carmen was a bit too
men to stop. He scanned the ala­
now. I feel it myself.” He drew a animated to seem natural. And ters—three of their shacks were vis­ meda ahead.
ible
from
where
Bowie
and
Carmen
breath of relief. “ Thank God, you Bowie laughed at times, Dona Ma­
“ Men, señorita,” he said, “ horse­
had halted. As they rode away a
did escape.”
ria thought, without adequate rea­ rifle shot echoed across the Melena, men. H alf a dozen or more. They
are not our kind. I don’t like to
Carmen gave no heed to his plea. son.
and Bowie heard the sing of the meet them with you.”
“ Who were these men—those three
“ You made a long ride of it,” bullet as it passed.
"What shall we do, Felipe?”
men who saved my sister and me she suggested as a leading remark.
“ Run for it, Carmen!” he ex­
“ Turn back at once.”
fro m -w h a t shall I say?” She put
Carmen responded composedly. claimed, striking her pony and spur-
(TO BE CONTINUED)
AROUND
THE HOUSE
hu nut move bread (lough after
it begins to rise, or it is likely to
fall. Select a spot, out of a draft,
for the bowl Cover with n cloth
and then let the dough alone.
• • •
If you sprinkle a little flour in
the grease in which you are to fry
eggs, croquettes, etc., the grease
w ill not sputter.
r
• • •
Delicious en erg y
builders ,Oil hoof ond »of
...or serve cold...saves
money...order, today,
from your grocer.
Any flaked ready-to-serve cereal
may be used instead of bread
crumbs in a recipe that calls for
bread crumbs.
• • •
When making baked custard.
pour boiling m ilk onto the beaten
eggs. It w ill then bake very firm.
• • •
A piece of chamois that has been
dampened makes an excellent
Justice Arrives
duster. It makes furniture look
Justice, even if slow, is sure.
like new.
Solon.
b
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before you say Corn Flakes
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MADE BY KELLOGG'S IN
BATTLE CREEK
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Moderate Praise
I
Speech of Eyes
Always to give praise moderate-
The eyes have one language
ly, is a strong proof of mediocrity. I everywhere
GET V IT A M IN S
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