Casper Daily Tribune Newspaper, June 20, 1917, Page 7

Ahhe aL IN Be T ~ ~ wv ~: aw rel ~ OP REX BEACH Author of ‘The Spoilers,” The Iron T; rail,” “The Silver Horde,” Et;. Ceret © Merge © trate SYNOPSIS. CHAPTER I—Set afoot and alone by an accident in the desert near the Rio Grande Mrs. Alaire Austin, mistress of Las Pal- mas and La Feria ranches, meeis Dave Law, Texas Ranger, at a water hole and ts compelicd to spend the night there with him, as he is in ambush for a murderer and cannot leave his post. CHAPTER Il—Next day at evening the murderer appears with a companion CHAPTER III—Law captures the derer but is compelled to kill h jon, Panfilo Sanchez, who hoe a cousin of Mrs, Austin’s | Jose Sanchez. CHAPTER IV—At Las Palmas Alair tells her husband, Ed, that his carousels and inebriety must stop Her cattle at La Feria, the Mexican ranch, are con- fiscated by Longorio, Mexican federal general, and she finds that it is because | Ed has been helping the rebel junta. CHAPTER V—On her way to La Feria | In Mexico Alaire meets Longorio, who falls in love with her and agre to setth for the confiscated stock. ied ete CHAPTER VI—Entertained at their | home by Blaze Jones and his daughter Paloma, Dave hears something about the Tad Lewis outfit, which is suspected of catule stealing, With Ricardo Guzman and his boys Dave and Blaze go on a scout after cattle thieves. CHAPTER VII—Law catches two of the Lewis outfit branding a stolen calf and in a fight kills one and has his horse shot under him. He trails the other thief to Las Palmas, where he is insulted by Ed Austin, whom he knows to be very friend- ly with the Lewis outfit. CHAPTER XI—Dave and Alaire attend the Las Palmas rodeo. She presents Dave with a horse to repl. the one killed by the cattle thieves. They discuss the kill- ing of Panfilo, CHAPTER XII—Guzman does not turn from Mexico and his reported kill arouses Americans. Dave and Blaze Tange to go to Romero across the recover the body. Jo: ve killed Panfilo and goe: jo. Paloma and Alaire re- r- ver hears that to join Lon o the river to await the return Blaze and Dave. Longorio appears at Las Pal- mas with an escort and overhears Ed telephoning news of the trip after Guz- man to Tad Lewis. CHAPTER XIII—Longorio compels Ed to go to the river with him. 1 follow and hide in the pump Lewis outfit appears yh Dave cross the river prevented by Captain Evans and his rang- ers who appear on the scene and support Dave. Dave arrests Urbina. vorable for an approach to the pump- house itself. They had nearly reached their goal when out into the clearing behind them, with metallic rattle and clang, burst another automobile, and Paloma whispered excitedly. “There's the Lewis outfit at last.” In the Lewis car were several men. They descended hurriedly, and when one of them ran around the front of the car to turn off its lights, both wom- en saw that he carried a rifle. Evi- dently Tad Lewis had come prepared for desperate measures. A small door gave entrance to the pumphouse, and into the lock of this Mrs. Austin fitted a key; the next mo- ment she and Paloma were safely in- side. Dusty, cobwebbed windows let n a faint ghost-glow of moonlight, but prevented clear observation of any- thing outside; Alnire’s fumbling fin- gers found the latch and began to lift a window, when someone spoke, just outside the building. “What did you discover?” inquired a voice which neither woman ree nized. Paloma clutched blindly for her ‘ompanion; the two ‘eavesdroppers stood rooted in their tracks. The pounding of their hearts sounded loud- ly. Since the building was little more than a wooden shell, they could plainly hear the answer: “The house is full of greasers. I can’t tell who they are.” A third man spoke, this time in Spanish. “That was Tad Lewis who just came, senor.” There followed some _ whispered words indistinguishable to the listen- ers, then a rustle of bodies moving through the tall grass and weeds. Paloma placed her lips close to Aluire’s ear. “Who are those people?” she breathed. “I don’t know. They must be the ones who came in that strange auto- mobile.” Paloma chattered viciously: “Every- body in Texas is here. I wish we'd thought to scatter tacks behind us.” Cautiously. they swung the door back and looked out. The open space along the river bank was leveled by the moonlight; from Morales’ house, to their right, came the sound of voices. The women waited. A few moments, then a number of men appeared.. Paloma judged there were at least a dozen, but she was too excited to count them. As they came straggling toward the pumphouse one of them called back: “Morales! Put out your lights.” Both women recognized Tad Lewis a8 the speaker. Alaire had stubbornly refused to charge her husband with any active share in this evil business, but her faith in Ed suddenly vanished when she heard him say: “Hush! ‘You're making too much noise. You'd better scatter out, too, for there's no telling where they'll land.” Alaire leaned weakly against the door. “I’m going to leave, and let you-all attend to the rest,” he was saying. But ‘Tad Lewis halted him as he turned from the group: 1B You left the road. I t are you talking about? t Morale t “hurry,” “On inish s Adolfo Urbina,” panted Pa- “T him.” by this pen ches urdice, Austin be- gan a vo se, but in the midst of it General Longorio addressed him rply. You will stay ves this place I told y here, senor. Nobody | su I wouldn't be a party to the business,” Ed declared hotly. “You forced me to come in the first place—" “Yes! And now I force you to st Longorio’s stand appeared to please | Lewis, who chimed in with the words: “That's right, Ed. You've got to stick, for once in your life.” “What do you mean, you n into my car back yonder?” asked after a moment. “Ain't that your machine yonder by | ly ran | Austin | the thicket inquired Lewis. “If it ain't, whose is it?’ As no one an- swered, he started in the direction he had indicated; but at that moment e man came running from the river bank, crying softly: “Look out! They come.” A man passed swi the crack of the half-open door and scare feet beyond. He was followed by three others, The first of as spokesman | the for out into the moon! newcomers, ac stepped ght and er loud- Iello, What's goin’ on] It was an American voice; it had a broad, slow Texas drawl. The group of plotters turned; there startled murmur, then Tad Lewis answered: “Hello! Who are you! you want?” “T reckon we must have got off the | road,” announced the stranger. Then | he peered out across the river. “Say! Ain't that a skiff yonder?” he inquired, “Well, it don’t look like a steam- | boat.” Lewis laughed disagreeably. m was a What do} Dea LON VALCNTAG—» “Hello, Men! What's Going on Here?” “We're havin’ a little party of our own. | I reckon you fellows had better beat it. Understand?” The outposts that had been sent to cover the bank in both directions were | now coming in. Through the stillness of the night there sounded the thump of oarlocks. Seeing that the stranger did not seem to take his hint, Lewis raised his voice menacingly: “That’s your road back yonder. It’s a right good road, and I'd advise you to travel fast.” But this suggestion was also ignored; in fact, it appeared to amuse the man addressed, for he, too, laughed. He turned, and the women noticed that he carried a short saddle gun. They saw, also, that at least one of the men at his back was similarly armed. “Now, what's the hurry?” The stranger was chuckling. Suddenly he raised his voice and called loudly: “Hello, Dave! Is that you-all?” The answer floated promptly back: “Hello, Cap! Sure it's us.” “Have you got him?” It was Blaze Jones’ voice which an- swered this time: “You bet!” Paloma Jones was trembling now. She clung to Alaire, crying, thankfully: “JTt’s the Rangers! The Rangers bg Then she broke away and ran out into the moonlight, trailing her absurd fire- arm after her. “Now, boys,” the Ranger captain was saying, “I know 'most every one of you, and we ain’t going to have the least bit of trouble over this thing, are we? ° | corio’s Mexicans had gathered about | came up over the | was shot by your men. | dones the other. | aimed for this affair to get out, any-| I reckon you-all are friends of Ricardo Guzman, and you just couldn't wait to find out about him, eh?” > + vllowed Paloma, Was close enough now to recognize the two Guzman boys as members of the Ranger party. Lewis and his men had | drawn together at the first alarm; Lon- their leader. The entire situation had | anged in a moment, and the Ranger captain was in control of it. Soon Dave Law and Blaze Jones river bank; they paused, stricken with surprise at find- ing a score of people where they had expected no more than four. Blaze was the first to speak. “What's all this?” he cried. de peered near- sightedly from one to the other; then uis huge bulk shook with laughter: ‘Say, do my glasses nify, or is} this an open lodge t ue “Dad!, Oh, dad!” Paloma scurried | to him and flung herself into his arms. | “What you doin’ here, kid?” the father “Why, y to be home and abed, long Il catch your death of cold, 1 loaded 7” Dave exclaimed, Law wus even n » ninazed than his companion. Recoveri his st sury he t« beside his superior | Evans did not seem the disparity in numb or two at the most sufficient to quell a" an disturbance ; | now that there were three of them, he felt equal to an invasion of Mexi- | can soli, if nece he relaxed his watchful vigilance, and to Dave he drawled: “We've got most of the leading citi- zens of the county, and I reckon some- body in the outfit will be able to iden- tify Guzman.” | “There's no trouble about that, sir. | We found him. Pedro and Raoul can | make sure.” The sons of Ricardo Guz man stepped forward promptly, and} aw Waved them toward the boat land- | ing, where the two helpers were wait- ing with Ricardo’s remains. | Despite the Runger captain's easy | assumption of command, the n of the situation had not subsided, and Longorio drew swift attention to him- | self when he said: “It is fortunate iry. In consequence, stri that I chanced to arn of this matter. You have done a great servic Senor Law, for I me 1e to mero purposely to examine | into the death of this unfortunate man. | But I could rn nothing; nobody | knew anything whatever about the} matter, and so I became convinced that it amounted to little. Now—behold! I discover that I was deceived. Or—} perhaps there still may be a mistake.” | > thrust his daughter aside and advanced toward the speak- er. “There's no mistake,” he declared belligerently. “I don’t make mistakes when I go grave-robbin’. Don Ricardo He had five thousand dollars on him, or he should have had, and he was an American citi- zen. Your Colonel Blanco covered the body, but he'll have a h—1 of a job coverin’ the facts. It's time we came to a showdown with your murderin’ outfit, and I aim to see if you've got a government in your country. “Heaven guided my hand,” devoutly breathed the general. “It is regret- table that you used this means when a word to me would have served the purpose, for—it is no trivial matter to Jones desecrate a Mexican graveyard. My | country, it- has a government. An officer of the s » of Texas, under | arms, has crossed the Rio Grande. } What does that mean?” Captain Evans had a sense of hu- mor; Longorio’s ominous words amused | him. “Say, general, it ain’t the first | time,” he chortled. “And you're an offi- | cer, too, ain't you? You're in Texas | at this minute, and I'll bet if I frisked | you I'd find that you was under arms.” } sh suffi- | y well to grasp the significance of these words, After a moment’s con- | sideration, therefore, he modified his | threatening tone. | “But my mission was friendly. I had no criminal purpose,” he said mildly. | “However—perhups one offense con- At any rate, we must have no international complications, There is a more practical side to the matter: If Don Ricardo Guzman met his death in Mexico, there will be a rigid investigation, I assure you.” Evans agreed. “That's fair! And I'll make a bargain with you: you} keep still and so'll we. We never » Mexican understood how. I reckon these men”—he indi- cated Lewis and his followers—“ain't | liable to talk much.” The two Guzman boys, greatly moved, returned to announce that! they had identified their father’s body, and Longorio could not well refuse to accept their evidence. “Very well,” said he. “I am indebted to you. Since there is nothing more to be said, apparently, I will return to Romero.” With a bow to Mrs. Aus- tin, who had silently watched the play of these opposing motives, he turned away, and Tad Lewis followed him. But Dave Law had recognized Adolfo Urbina in the crowd, and, stepping for- ward, disarmed him, saying: “Adolfo, there’s a warrant for you, so I'll just take you in.” For a moment Adolfo was inclined to resist, but, thinking better of it, he yielded with bad grace, bitterly re- gretting the curiosity which had prompted him to remain to the end of this interesting affair. aa] Tad Lewis gave him some comfort. “Never mind, Adolfo,” he said. “They can’t prove anything on you, and Ill go your bail, Ed Austin knows where you was the day that stock was stole.” He and his two remaining men moved toward their automobile, and a moment later the vehicle went clattering away up the thicket road. So ended the attempt to foil the re THE CASPER DAILY TRIBUNE | with TCA my ere turn of Ricardo Guzman’s body to Texas soil. e When Alaire came to look for her husband. he was gone. CHAPTER XIV. Superstitions and Certainties. The sensation caused by Guzman’s disappearance was as noth- ing to that which followed the recovery of his body. Whatever the facts of the rescue, it was generally recognized that the result had been to bring on @ crisis in the affairs of the two na- tions, Strong influences, however, were at work to prevent that very out- come for which the people of Texas prayed. Turing the delay there arose a report that Ricardo Guzman had | borne an evil reputation, and that he | had been so actively associated with the rebel cause as to warrant pwnish- ment by the federal government. More- over, a legal question as to his Ameri- can citize ship was raised which s d to have important bear- ing upon the Public intere is short-lived; few living men ean hold it more than a ds or two, and it reckons no dend man} worthy of re than an obituary no-| tice. Thus in the course of time the Guzm: incident was in a fair way | of being officially forgotten and for- given. But there were several persons who | felt inte relief at the course events had taken, and among these was Alaire Austin. In the days following that midnight expedition sh time in which to meditate husband's upon her It seemed probable that he had fled to San Antonio, there to remain until interest In the Guzman matter had abated. Alaire telephoned ing to herself that Jearn more about her husband's connection the Lewis Dave arrived even sooner than she had expected. She made him dine with her, and they spent the evening on the dim-lit gal- y. In the of their conver- ition Alaire discovered that Dave, too, 1a hidden side of his nature; that he possessed an imagination, and with it a quaint, whimsical, exploratory turn actions, Dave Law, she must ing. course of mind which enabled him to talk | Interestedly of many things and mur places. On this particular evening he | was anything but the man of iron she Ricardo | a question | id had ample | argu- DOUGLAS & MOODY, office: 126 N. 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