Tliesttre. 9 clouds of dust and profanity, and de­ the edge, threw himself flat and s»r I night, the girl maneuve"ed her hors': parted in search of a mount to replace bitterly, with an accent of griev^l “Give me a thousand on account,' said to tlie side of Hopi Jim. and then » n ;|t j liken all tb"‘ tr» horse that had been shot under as he rose. the other, "and a paper saying you 11 dropped back, pern itting Marrophat the CHAPTER XXXVl. liddie From the canyon below a dull no' I I hcose loose i»i t'i him; and Judith sat her horse calmly, pay me nineteen thousand more in ex to lead the t.ay with Texas. of my of galloping hoofs advertised too B i trestle St the li smiling sweet insolence into the exas ­ herself to change for it and one dead man. prop- As deliberately she set Detail. to go ly the failure of their attempt. “ I didr't have the n- of Marrophat. the bandit’s susceptibility perated countenance fugitives erly identified as the one you went— work l upon Across the pl in purple shadows with the bu.im . *!' , disap- And Hopi Jim turned back only . I Incidentally the disap ­ were sweeping, clot e-ranked. like som-i I "We went threu," '1 V signed by you- i—and your man'B as to her charms. find Judith mounted, reining her hor<- I peared round a bend in tlie road that this minute, providing vast dark army invading the land, rcfl!"'l Marmplcit <1- Within an hour the had him ready good _j as dead led directly into the wild and barren in between him and Marrophat, I in riding distance of this beta to do anything‘to win her smile. pouring cn over the rampart of moun­ as usual, they »tr he's 1- prepared to give emphasis to what si I heart of the Painted hills. In that first rush cf golden day a- tains in the east. car.” T hey Jumi ’ d out a had to say with an automatic pfcJ I in the brief interval that elapsed be ­ his hand at his s'-cre- Within the rlrn of hills that ringed ties tie before our thwart the land, the party came quietly .3 waved__ Trine that nestled snugly in her palm. ‘ I fore his return with Hopi Jim, Marro- Jimmy, find a thousand dolíais the plain like the chipped and broken I boose. W« sura into the town of Mesa, riding slowly in tary. ’------- ------ "One moment, Mr. Slade,’ she tn, I phat contrived to persuade the bandit for this gentleman. Make out th« order that the noise of their approach flange of a titanic saucer, siienco I wood Lut th») pot gested evenly. "Just a moment before I that Judith had been, at least indi ­ paper he indicates for tne balance, might not warn tlie fugitives, who brooded and solitude held «way— to niina the era h. you break the sad news to Mr. Marr» I dwarfing the town of Detail that oc­ I we bad stepp- d and c re d < Hopi asserted confidently would still rectly, r< sponsible for the catastrophe, and 1'11 sign it.” cupied the approximate middle of th« ’ engineer—woll, it V ¿18 dark "Ain’t you powerfl I trustful, Mr. be sound asleep in tlie accommoda with the upshot that, temporarily phat. I’ve something to say that need, I blinded to her fascinations by the glit­ your attention—likewise, your respect I sagebrush waste, to proportions even I w ay ot telling whit 11 Trine? now do you know ill do any­ tions offered by the town’s one hotel J It is this: I am parting company »¡u I less significant than might be inferred run.” thing more'n pocket that thousand and It was to be termed a town only in ter of nineteen thousand dollars in the you and Mr. Marrophat. I am riding 2 near distance, Mr. Siade maintained from the candor of its christening. but fade delicately away. ” courtesy, this Mesa: a straggling The girl started to sp A platform, a siding, a water tank, a dropped limp h nd- at "My daughter and this gentleman, street of shacks, ramshackle relics of his distance and a deaf ear to her on toward the west, by this trail. ; Wei's Fargo offbe and a telegraph «nd - relied her ey ! ~ Mr. Marrophat, will accompany you.” what bad once been a promising com­ I blandishments. The only information either of you care to follow me"— I automatic flashed ominously in th« I ticket office, backed by three rough "Oh, that’s the way of it, is it?" oi munity. the half-way station between as to their purpose that she was able ’ V. a uo frame buildings; that is Detail ‘.t.m- served. “ We “Name?" interjected the secretary, the railroad and tho mining camps to extract from either man, when the sun glare—"it will be with full kno»; I ixt-d completely. writing busily with the top of his at- secreted in the fastnesses of the Paint­ pursuing party turned aside from the edge of the consequences. Mr. Marnj. I i comething Shortly after nightfall the steel rib­ pens to tip tache case tor a desk. ed hills—canii« now abandoned, their main trail, some distance from Mesa, phat will enlighten you if you have I doubt of my ability to take careot I bons of the Santa Fe began to bum. A “ Slade, ” baid the bandit, “ James him with The girl very names almost faded out of the was that Hopi Jim knew a short cut any headlight peered suspiciously round a I.lazing ey. through the range, via what he termed myself in Buch affairs as this. If yoj I does that Slade.” Again Trine punctured the at­ memory of mankind. shoulder of the eastern rang", took mean?” slu ¡11 a dangerous mosphere with his index finger. "The Midway in this string cf edifices the the upper trail, by which they hoped are well advised, you will turn back I heart of col* age to find tire plain still voice. man whose life 1 want is named Alan hotel stood—a rough, unpainted, wood­ I to be able *o head the fugitives off be­ and report failure to my father.” She nodded curtly and swung her I wrapped in peace, and trudged stolid­ shoulders, Law. He is running away with my en editice, mainly veranda and bar- fore they could gain the desert on the Marrophat Ijfl ly toward Detail, the engine whose ’'Nothing—mu( horse round. ■d. "I am daughter, Rose, accompanied by a per­ room as to its lower floor. far side of the hills. eye It was pulling after it a string of r-niy thinking hov "And what shall I tell your father it 1« that son named Barcus, disguised as a Pull­ Jealously Judith watched tho I Only at long intervals did they draw from you ?” Marrophat demanded freight cars, both flat and box. rein to permit Hopi Jim to make re- man porter—” ■Mr. Law can’t be and dows of the second floor: I connoissance of the lower trail that sharply. At De’all the train paused, Its i r stra'nrm!—wh-. "The three of them having recent’ alone of the four detected tlie face crew alighted and engaged in ani- Miss Judith!" “What you please,” the girl replied, escaped from a train wreck up yonder showed for one brief instant well back threaded the valley on the far side of mated argument. Detail gathered that flashing an Impish smile over shoulder I The girl’s hands were clenched lido on the trestle?” Hopi Jim interposed. in the shadows beyond one of the bed­ the ridge. tile excitq/m ut was due to the unac­ lists, white knuckhs Bhowing through "Yoq’ve met them?” Judith demand­ room windows—a face that glimmered Toward noon he returned in haste “But, since when I part company with I countable disappearance of the ca­ i he flesh. " You cunt in pt i ble puppy!” ed, whirling round. from the last of these surveys— you, I part with him as well—for allot I momentarily with the pallor of a boose; none seemed to have any no­ i lie snai ped. . . . "About an hour ago, or maybe an ghost's against the background of that scrambling recklessly down the moun- me, you may tell him to go to the I tion as to how it could have broken hour and a half,” Hopi Jim replied, "a obscurity, and then was gone. But cn this her vol I tain-side and throwing himself upon devil!” loose; yet missing it conspicuously lyes traveled past t good ways down the road. They I Her eyes alone, indeed, could have . his horse with the advice: “Well,” Mr. Marrophat admitted con I I was. ' Lirrophat to the do»- stopped and ast where they could get recognized tlie features of Alan Law i “We've headed ’em—can make it fldentially to Mr. Slade, "I’m damned!’ I In the pause that followed, v.-hlle a irg room and tour put up for the night. I kindly directed in that fugitive glimpse. “And that ain’t all," Mr. Slade con I , now if we ride like all get-out!” report wae telegraphed to headquar­ I 'a anger. them on to Mesa, down in tho Painted Two sentences exchanged between For half an hour more they pushed tided in ’Mr. Marrophat, whipping out I ters and Instructions returned to pro­ "Excuse me, frleni hills yonder.’ Hopi Jim and a blear-eyed fellow 1 on at the best speed to be obtained his own revolver: “You’re being held ] ceed without delay, one of the train­ fi lazy, semiJiumon ; whom he roused from sodden slumbers ! from their weary animals, at length up, too. I’ll take those guns of your't, i men spied n boyish figure lurking in ine considerable to CHAPTER XXXVII, behind the bar sealed their confidence j ' drawing rein at a point where the trail friend, and what else you’ve got about | the open door of an empty box car. happy family gat In i with conviction: the three fugitives ! crossed the ridge and widened out you that’s of value, including your hots j Cunningly boarding th!« car fiom the is busfnets. same r.u Fireplay. were in fact guests of the house, oc­ I upon a long, broad ledge that over- —and when you get back to old man I opposite aide, the trainman caught to ast you-all to pk Contented with tho promise of a cupying two of tho three rooms that i hung the valley of the lower trail, with Trine you can just tqll him, with my I the skulker unawares and booted him I ands!" thousand dollars advance on his con- , composed its upper story. a clear drop to the latter from the best compliments, that I’ve quit the I valngloilotisly Into the night "What do you want tract, providing he returned with job and lit out after that daughter o! I As the figure alighted and took to manded In the rush that followed up the brink of a good two hundred feet. horses within a stipulated time, Mr. narrow stairway, Judith led with such its heels, loelng itself in the darkness, ais’n. She's a heap sight more attrac­ One hasty look back and down into hy,” drawled the bandit, "nothing it uttered a cry of pained surprise and in particular oniy your cash. Shell Hopi James Slade drifted quietly away spirit that not even Marrophat sus­ the valley evoked a grunt of satisfac­ tive than nineteen thousand dollars i i into the desert night protest which drew a wrinkle of as­ out, if you pleas»- ,;euts all and the pected her revolver was poised solely and not half so hard to earn!” Well coutent, persuaded that the with intent to shoot from his hand his tion from Hopi Jim. tonishment between tin brows of the lady, toe.” lie ran an nppre-lative “ Just in time, ” he asseverated. "Here morrofl-'s sun would never set upon a own revolver the instant he leveled I trainman. CHAPTER XXXIV. s they come! Ten minutes more . . fiance down the lirui-e which Judith’s "Rounded like a woman’s voice," be ulsgulso ret» tied rafh-r then <-on- world tenanted by one Alan Law, that it at a human target. His smile answered Marrophat's monomaniac, Seneca Trine, forgot ills truiH-d; then dismissed the suggestion ccaled. Closed and locked doors confronted with unspeakable cruel significance. Burnt Fingers. you'll pardou my takin’ recent ill temper and set himself diplo- n.i obviously absurd. them; and their summons educed no Once 6he had lost touch with herfi- “Texas will sleep better tonight It was not. . . , response; while the first door, when when he knows how I’ve squared the ther's creatures, the girl drew rein i Shortly after the freight train hod broken in by a whole touled kick, dis­ deal for him!” the bandit declared. and went on more slowly and can- j gone on Its way—before, indeed, the covered nothing more satisfactory "What are you going to do?” Judith tiously. glimmer of Its rear lights had been than an empty room, its bed beaiing demanded, reining her horse in beside Below her, in the valley, the lower Inst among the western hills- a sec the imprint of a woman's body, but Marrophat as the latter dismounted. trail wound its facile way. From time end headlight appeared in the east that woman gone. A gesture drew her attention to a to time she could discern upon some swept swiftly seres» the plain and In From the one window, looking down huge boulder poised insecurely on the naked stretch of its length a cloud of turn sli t> •• d rl D t ill the side of the house, Texas announced very lip of the chasm. Just, or perhaps three mounted flg The »»rond t-lrd-of-passage prove that the woman had not escaped by "We're going to tip that over on ures, scurrying madly on with fear of tn be a locomotive d:u*mg a slngl jumping out. your friends, Miss Judith!” Marrophat death snapping at their heels. tar—a • ullman So it seemed that the three must replied, with a smack of relish in his It was within an hour of midnight, Hardly hnil I’ run past the switch have had warning of their arrival, i voice. “Simple—neat—efficient—eh? a night bell-clear and bitter cold on bo-.evei. v ben t ie brnke:n:‘ii dr»ppe< after all; and presumably were now What more can you ask?" the heights, and bright with moon­ down. I <>l quick.- ba- » Io the n.iiic. herded together in the adjoining room, She answered only with an irrepress­ light, when Alan’s party made its last und tliiew it open. which looked out over the veranda ible gesture of horror. Marrophat’s pause and camped to rest against the IToiiiptly tho tr In b.icl.ed cn to thi roof, waiting in fear and trembling laugh followed her ae she turned away. lawn, unconscious of the fact that, a siding for the assault that mu3t soon come— As the Bullmsti j lied aero«« thi For some moments she strained her ¡uarter of a mile above them, on the and in fact immediately did. frogs tlie brakemiiii, Interposing him But it met with more stubborn re­ I vision vainly, endeavoring to pene­ ipper trail, a lonely woman paused self between It and tne tender, re sistance than had been anticipated. trate the turbulent currents of super- vhen they paused and made her own loured the coupling. The door had been barricaded from h(»ted air that filled the valley. Then ramp on the edge of a sharp declivity. liv the time that the Pullman line The level shafts of the rising sun within — re-enfcrced by furntture she made out indistinctly the faintly come to a full atop on the siding, tin marked line of the lower trail; and iwakened her. She sat up, rubbed her placed against it. Four minutes and Il < omotlve was »winging westward the united efforts of four men (includ­ immediately she caught a glimpse of eyes, yawned, stretched limbs stiff llle ii scared Jickiablilt though n< ing the bleary loafer of the barroom) three small figures, mounted, toiling with the hardship of sleeping on un­ inch lailk-und watery characteiIziitloi were required to overcome its inert re­ painfully toward the point where death yielding, sun-baked earth—and of a ot the traitor passed the lips of any sistance. But even when it was down, awaited them like a bolt from the blue. mdden started up, surprised by the one of the three men who prea°ntly Hastily she glanced overshoulder: ¡rating of footsteps on the earth be- the room was found to be as empty as appealed on tho Pullman's platforn Hopi Jim and Marrophat, ignoring her, lind her. the first. amt shook Impotent tlsls In the dime Before she could turn, however, she Only the fingers of two hands grip­ were straining themselves against the tlon taken by the fugitive engine. ping the edge of the veranda roof I boulder without budging it an inch, was caught and wrapped in the arms When tile lust of these had run tern showed the way the fugitives had for all its apparent nicety of poise. For of Hopi Jim. pornrlly out of breath ami blasphemy flown; and these vanished instantly as i an instant a wild hope flashed through She mustered all her strength and n brief silence fell, puuctuuted by her mind, but it was immediately ex­ wits and will for one last struggle— the room wae invaded. I roans from each, and concluded by Followed a swift rush of hoofs down orcised when Hopi Jim stepped back and In a frenzied moment managed to tlie sound of a voice calling from th» the dusty street, and a chorus of blas­ and uttered a few words of which only break his hold a trifle, enough to en­ interior of the cur a voice as strange phemy in tlie hotel hallway: for Ju- two—“dynamite” and “fuse”—reachec. able her to snatch at the pistol hang­ ly sonorous of tone as it was curiously querulous of accent. Jith had headed the concerted rush her ears. ing from her belt and present it at his Knee'ing beside the boulder he dug head. for the staircase and contrived to The three men Immediately ran back block it for a full half minute by pre- busily for an instant, then lodged the Into the car and presented themselvei Marrophat at Her Elbow to Egg Her Cn. But it exploded harmlessly, spend­ tending to stumble and twist her stick to his satisfaction, attached the ing its bullet on the blue of the morn­ with countenances variously apolo gctlr, to oii < w ho occupied a comer ol notice," fuse, and breaking off, edged on hie ing sky. The bandit caught her wrist ankle. amended "Perhaps the drawing room a man wrapped iu wouldu t if the lady s clothes didn't tti I matically to adjust the differences be­ In spite of that alleged injury, she belly to the edge of the cliff and in time, thrust it aside and subjected tween his daughter, Judith, and hie a steamer rug aad a cloud of fury. never limped, r.nd wasn’t a yard. be- looked down, carefully calculating the it to such cruel pressure and such ear her so all tired quick!’ first lieutenant, Marrophat. Now when ho had drained thi hind the first who broke from t lie i length of the fuse by the distance of sge wrenchings that the pistol dropped "Keep a civil ton;-,no in your head, it was no facile task: Marrophat i>ii ' Jv troth of profanity from his tern my man! Judith counseled, without ho ’el to the op- n, nor yet appreciably the party down below from the spot from fingers uumbed with pain. could not be trusted tn work with e I er it left a clear and efterveacenl any show of fear. where the rock must fall. behind him in vaulting to saddle. single mind because of bls infatuation And now all hint of mercy left his v i II ot nil I, hi h ■ -r tli- wi.uh ol Well up the road a cloud of smoky At the same time het- father's voice for Judith: Judith could no more b< But while l:e was so engaged and eyes; remained oniy the glare of rage. Hie valetudinarian bigaii to vent Itsell brought her to her hciibi dust half obscured the shapeB of three Marrophat aided him, all eager inter­ He put forth all his strength in turn, trusted faithfully to serve out her vow i pon tlx- I'apleis heads ut the trio who "Judith! He quiet, Let lue dea) to bring Alan l.aw to her father's feet. who rode for lheir very lives. est, Judith was taking advantage of and Judith was as a child in his hands. siuud before him. with thij gentleman, 1 aui sure v.e , alive or dead, because—O cruel irony The pursuit was off in a twinkling their disregard of her. In .half a minute he had her helpless, ,Ä Whi’o this was In process, the can ooine to some arrang ment." and well bunched —Marrophat’s mount Hurriedly unbuttoning her jacket, of Fate! — she herself bad fallen in ¡el .-ii of I yl?!i cp|:taiauce, who had “You bet your life." a| t-d the gen- love with that same man whose death leading by a nose, Judith second, Hopi she whipped a playing card from her in as much time more her back was breaking across his knee, while he I - - n keeping religiously aloof and tn tieman as the glrl mutinously stepped Jim and Texas but little in the rear. conspicuous In tin- background of lie back. “1 know what I vaut, and you­ she had pledged herself to compass. And in the first rush they seemed to pocket, a trey o' hearts, and with the bound her with loop after loop of hie tr'i ev. r since that unhappy affair »11 know you pot it: so the naine ol Only when, as now, half mad with gain; moment by moment tiny drew stub of a pencil scribbled three words rawhide lariat. on its face—"Danger! Go back!” Then, leaving ner momentarily w'h th- irdnmin. stole quietly up to the Baid arrangement ia juat 'shell jealousy, determined to see Alan dead up on the flying cloud of dust. rather than yield him to the woman Then finding a small, flatfish bit of supine on the ground, Hopi Jim caught the rear of the stalled I’ullman, JUt.’ ’’ Judith heard an oath muttered be ­ he loved, her «liter, might Judith be I rock, the bound the card to it with and unhobbled her horse, and without <1 nbarl at"-i1 ' ' ln”rn-’’J "You against the horse's flank so hen-ilj Off t , breathe his last beneath a Leaving Marrophat to hbld the two that it shied in fright, and abrupJj —a t uv*u U> leU mr that aftw j Lad tall my naming my own pr!c< 1“ >w . b rately, as the lit»',.» 1 oi I :u nicked i.imself up, (frightened “Name it, then.' „...j t . , m I horses while the girl «hot tom Over tfoe e Ji; pished t» NyX