The Horry herald. (Conway, S.C.) 1886-1923, July 12, 1917, Image 6
i i
Louis Joseph Vance
MOVELIZATION OF THE MOTlOr
NAME. PRODUCED TOR THE IMTETRr
4JN DLR THE DIRECTION OF WHARTOM,^
THE CAST.
,
MRS. VERNON CASTLE as
Patria Charming.
MILTON SILLS as Donald Parr.
WARNER OLAND as Baron
Huroki.
OOROTHY GREEN as Fanny
Adair.
? ,
SYNOPSIS.
Baron lluroki of Tokyo, conspiring to
embroil the United States with Mexico in
order to pave the way for Japanese invasion
of the Pacific coast, is hunted from
the country by Patria Ohanning, sole -executrix
of a $100.000,(V-0 trust secretly created
by patriotic progenitors to combat
the national peril inherent in "unprepared
n ess." PearinK for the safety of h i
properties in the Southwest. Patria leaves
Kew York to investigate alontt tlie border,
accompanied by her fiance, Capt. Donald
Parr.
ELEVENTH EPISODE
Lovers' Leap.
THE BORDERLAND.
Ever since earliest (linen the train
find been alternately climbing with
stertorous respiration the straightened
passes and sweeping down in wild,
free flight through the widening valleys
of a great and spacious land of
haggard heauty.
And since her eyes had tirst opened
to this new day it had not been possible
for long to distract i'atria's attention
from that endless panorama of
prim, stark hills, painted desert and
boundless plains.
And in I'atria's eyes, while she
watched, a gladness shone deep and
tender; and ever and again her young
bosom would lift and fall with a gentle
sigh of happiness.
For this, to her. was home-coming;
she was returning, alter a long s<>*ourn
in a strange far country, to the
land which held iirst place in her
fieart.
Toward mid-afternoon the train
pausel at a little station.
IJ a+9Pa a I IwiHo leu o nn/uonnion l\ne4 lo s\ P
m ?^a x i uv i c ^ uiivwinuuMi I H" U i
life. In addition to the customary
groups of idle Mexicans and halfl?reeds,
Mpii>ws with crude pottery to
*eil to the avid tourist, and assorted
loafers, a company of hard-riding cow|
j?eopie hud gathered. and a couple of
> rough-coated motorcar* stood walt|
lugAs
Putria, with iter little train of
servants and companions, descended
to the platform, high-spirited cheering
^reefed her; tlie horsemen and women
yelied |>iercin#|y. and tossed aloft theii
hats; and from one of the motorcars
a man whose heaviness of stature assorted
oddly with his alertness of gesture
strode forward sombrero in hand,
then paused, stared and said in u
j voice of wondeiT-^4*5a^_
1 44Patria Channlng!"
*1 The girl identified him after a moment
of perplexity, during which her
memory harked hack to days a decade
ago. Her characteristic little frown of
thought wus dis ^ by a smile and
a laugh of joyful recognition, '
^7**T\j>dmun Pillsbury !" she exclaimed
i' *"ir i Mi . m ~ H.
?. ?wl lit II* l./vOl (>>< ixla
uiiu ^,(1 * u mill im;ui m;i mi nur>,
He took them awkwardly, shaking a
still bewildered head. ***
"'I dont' know you at all. Pat." he
said. "I was waiting for a little girl
?a freckled, long-legged totnhoy who
could beat me riding and shooting and
^?'inost every way. And here you're
a woman grown . . . Lord! how
antique you make me fejjli'i.
"You needn't," she told him gnyly.
"You've grown up every whit tts tuiicli
as I?but no more, not the least hit.
When I went Last you were-as sturdy
Mtid husky as a strlngbean and now
you're as slim and lissome as a watermelon!
Heavens! don't accuse me of
having changed! . , . But forgive
,Iie
v ^vlftly she mude IMUsbtir.V known
to her chaperon and Captain Parr.
^V^l want you to be great friends," she
wild with .lust '? hint of embarrassment
as these hist clasped hands. "Hodman
was the first sweetheart 1 ever had,
I>on?and Donald*" she added charmingly
to Pillsbury, "is my last; we ure
crigaged.*'. To
hoi* immense relief there was no
Hrhce of hostility in the greeting which
Itodman accorded her betrothed,
m mr __ tiiii -i ? ? ?
Air. I'uisDury nnu f?rown up in more
tliau physiqu^ in the course of ten
years. The ability to mask his feellugs
with Unpenetrable dissimulator
was only 0'ie of the accomplishment)
which he had acquired, and which tit
tif\ him ho admirably to command a
?>noe the friendship aud respect of tin
small array of employees who lookec
up to him as the local representatlv?
??f the Channlng Interests?us, in short
* (> J.vnn1|?
Wilrtl i,WUIllUU A III.1WUI J ? VIOI,! ?, ,?
I hi trie's viceroy, ruling dominions o
land and men?broader. If less popu
lous, itiarj many u Kuropean principal
Ity.
That exhilaration which had tree
im.unting in 1'atria ever since he
awakening that morning grew sti
snore Intense as her motorcar swun
away from ilic station and over
Winding highroad. Now she was thoi
>
i ?
[he Great Romance
of Preparedness
* picture: plavof the" same
tational film service, inc.,
INC. COPYRIGHT. STAR COMPANY
| otighly ?t homo. Sho seomed to recognise
as old friends not only those
.voll-n tnmnbereil landmark*; hut every
tree ami houtder on the wvuy?even
' that slow-plodding ox-cart with its
heavy wooden wheels, primitively
spokeless, and its Mexican ?ilriver with
his goad trudging beside the yoked
beasts. tviws like a brightly 'colored illustration
from the Hook of Yesterday.
"They, nt least, don't change," she
said to Uortman, nodding toward the
cart with it* load of straw.
"No," he agreed with a thoughtful
frown; "the only thing that resigns the
(irenser to the march of ei\iligation is
an opportunity to do murder with a
modern magazine rilie or run guns ami
ammunition across the border in a sixcylinder
machine !"
""Where is the border?1 menu, the
boundary line':" Parr itupiired.
"I'M show you in a minute," Fatria
tmswei'od
And presently, as the car topped tt
long, slow upgrade, gaining an etnit/once
that overlooked mtlcli of that
rolling countryside, she pointed out ti
bridge that spanned g gulley oil' to lite
right..
"That's the boundary line." she said ;
"that arroyo; beyond the bridge is
Mexico."
"Is there much of tltat sort of thing
going on hereabouts?"?Parr turned
to Pillshwjy?"gun running, 1 mean?"
"I hardly think so. Things have
been very quiet in this neck of \he
woods. Its to the southeast, along the
Kio (drande. that the most of the I rouble
has occurred, to date.
Three miles beyond the point where
till' 1*1 I! I I 1 I'l i I* L* l < I ..II.. ..I'l.l .?.. I . . . i .. .? .1.
to the bridge at the bonier, the car
drew up in front of the Outnniug hacieixia,
a century-old structure luiijt
upon rambling lines of Spanish architecture.
With a cr\ of delight Palria felt herself
folded in the aged anus of Rodman's
mother?a slight and delicate
little woman who hud for many years
been a second mother to l'atria. the orphaned,
only when the little girl went
Hast to complete her education yielding
place to Mrs. Wreun in Putriu's affections.
And Mr*. Pillsbury proved not to
I have changed in the least !
Then there was Bess Morgan waiting
to greet her?a tow-headed little
imp ten years ago, today a slender and
dignitied young woman whose serene
poise did not in the least detract from
her ability to ride harder and faster
and shoot straighter than any man or
woman wltldn two days' journey of
the Outlining ranch.
Sister of Bud Morgan, now foreman
of the Outlining cowpunchers?an upstanding
youngster of five-and-twenty
?Bess lived with her mother and
brother some twenty miles from the
hacienda. She had ridden over to \vol?
I
coiJ.IV "t1 i'j'J nvii 1 for the ufl.*ectlons of
Hod in an Hillsbury.
Their ancient oninltv thawed to the
warmth of u spontaneous kiss; and the
relief, imperceptible to any hut another
woman, w iOx w 1 dch Hess received
the ne'ws of Hatria's betrothal
to Donald, provided even more comforting
reassurance to I'atria in respect
tn the alTections of Hodman.
ACROSS THE BORDER.
Willie the hacienda slept in peace,
that primitive oxcart pursued laboriously
its patient, ofvaking way across
the bridged aiveyo and the desert
country beyond tow ard a far-ilung line
of mountains which loomed against
the horizon in serrated array like the
frozen profile of a stormy sea.
Distancing the oxcart as fast as
willing hoofs could run, a horseman
who, leaving the station alnilesslv
shortly after the departure of I'atria's
juirty for the hacienda, had spurred
his "steed to its sw'iitest pace as soon
'as he felt secure from observation, ar
riven in ino eariy evening at a straggling
row of adobe huts which figured
as the nearest Mexican village.
Twilight was still bright when he
dropped from his fagged animal and
sought one of the dwellings which
wore a slightly less unkempt appearance
than its fellows,
i In the doorway of this hut, somei
what contemptuously watching the
l evolutions of a squad of listless Mexican
infantry In the village plaza, stood
} a gentleman in the field uniform of
k an officer of the Japanese army.
Hearing the thud of hurried foot
, steps In the deep dust of the street
4 the Japanese turned toward the ap
. proaching horse an expectant eye.
t "Well, Gomez?" he said in Spanish.
"Excellency, I have to report thai
the Channlng girl, with Captain Pari
B and a small company of friends ar
rived from the East this afternoon."
The Jupanese nodded gently. "Mnnj
f thanks/' he said in un indifforen
voice. "You will be duly rewarded foi
[. your vigilance. Good-night."
As the Mexican disappeared in tie
n gathering darkness, the Japanes*
r smote his palms together smartly.
II In response a wiry little Japanese
^ of vicious gesture, in the uniform o
un orderly, came out of the hut uu<
r. paused at attention.
I
"Co Immediate^ TCnto** tit* wipetioT
ordered?"find Senor 2?olnya, preKcnt
my compliments and say tliat lJarwn
Huroki will l>o obliged if licncrul ZoI
ay a will cousc.ni u>'honor this humble
ahodo with his verminous presence, at
his oxaltod convenience this evening."
Sooner tliau lkii'on Huroki anticipated,
Zelayu shouldered through the
<loorwjty of Ids adoho quarters, a huge
ami forceful personality.
"Well, my friend," ho said, leering
companiouahiy and slapping a landlog
with the quirt which swung h.v its
loathorn thong Iron: his right wrist,
"Tin re is news, J hotit'?"
"Sit down," Huroki suggested, nod
<nn?. "ii is iru"; tine I'liumiinK j^irl
has come to the Jl>ordur to look after
lier possessions?K'vttn lis I foretold she
would/*
"The dear little orenture who has
a hundred million -of .gold dollars to
sik'ikI making fools of Japan and Mexico.
eli?" Zelaya laughed. "llnw
sweet of her t*? walk within our reach!
lust when 1 could use a little money.
too!"
"Undeceive yourself," liuroki re1?1Um1
brusquely ; "these hundred millions
remain well beyond our Krnsp;
the jrirl is no su-'li fool as to carry Kohl
about with her in such quant it ies. She
is not." lie pursued in tone of thoughtful
reminiscence not lacking a hint
of vindictiveness, "in any way a fool.
I tell you frankly?as 1 have said before?she
will upset all our schemes if
wo discount her shrewdness and ability."
"Ami so?what?"
"We must lind a way to trim her
el a ws."
"You ?1 i< 1 not send for me to ask my
advice." the outlaw laughed.
"No." liuroki admitted, "only your
co-operation."
"Your scheme, then, is matured?"
Tile Japanese maided. "t)ur course
is plain, my friend. IveuviiiK all other
consideration aside for the time beitiK
-?forjrettii?k. that is. your patriotic unselfishness
and my loyalty to Nippon
i...-1. ? ?
u r inn ii nrni iiHPllt-\ Ui uril liH UIC.V.
"Granted," Zelaya said, u-ith glistening
eyes.
"And Miss Chunning has it?and
means to keep it. How, then, to persuade
her to give us enough for our
modest needs?"
"1 >o go on !"
"The girl is madly infatuated with
a young man very dangerous to our
common cause," Huroki pursued
smoothly?"Captain Donald Parr. He
has accomftnnied her on this journey
to the border. It is he, indeed, who
jogs her elbow whenever she is in
doubt as to how and when and where
she ought to strike at us next."
"I should much enjoy meeting this
gentleman," the bandit announced.
"I should much enjoy effecting the
introduction," Huroki assented. "So I
mean to do it. Hut you must first
promise me not to Hay itiiu alive. Living.
lie is of incalculable value to us;
dead, a deathless peril?for the Channing
girl would never rest till she hud
avenged Ids death, though she were to '
plunge her beloved country Into war
with our two nations."
"I uin ull impatience for your
point."
"It is simple enough. For months
we have seen to it that this section of
the border was undisturbed. That
served our interests in more w>iys than 1
one. By keeping the peace, we provided
safe transit for arms and ammunition
shipments from the North; we
also inspired in the bosom of these
fools hereabouts confidence in a continuance
of immunity from our raids.
. . . So tonight the Channing hacienda
will sleep in tranquillity, never
dreaming that you. my friend, with a
large force of your picked horsemen,
will jraid it at dawn and bring back
to me the living?if somewhat damaged?body
of Captain Donald Parr, to
be held for ransom?for a round, corpulent
ransom which the Channing
girl will gladly pay rather than imperil
the life of her betrothed by any attempt
to rescue him. Do you see,
() brother?';. .?
"I see,'' Zclaya agreed, licking his
thick lips as he rose. "I see and I go
to pick my men !"
RIDERS OF THE DAWN.
In the first dim flush of that cool,
sweet dawn, Patria wakened with a
smile, and turning on her pillow,
looked out through the open window
at her bedside before snuggling beneath
the covers for another hour or
two of sleep.
And because the dew-wet world she
viewed was so very beautiful, she
could no more sleep, hut must needs
get up and move gently about her
T ' '
few ?- ^
The Patio Was a Pj
I
???^????
room, tmttnKg, nnddresfrtng In hor rifling
clothes.
While she <dro88wl she saw one of
the cowpundhers pass beneath her winflow,
ami -culled flown to hint softly, i
begging hliu "to saddle a horse for her
ami fetch it to the entrance to the
patio, without "letting on" to anybody.
lie promised cheerfully, and went
his wry, and had the minimal waiting
for her when at length, fully attired,
she descended to the patio and crept
furtively toward the arched passage
that opened on the out-of-doors.
llut she was not to get away so ens- i
ily. 1'arrVs v?i?e hailed her in amused '
exitostulatieui before she gained the
passageway,
"Here, now ! 'What's all this?"
"Oh, dear!" she complained. "It's
just my luck !"
"Why, what's the matter?"
"I did so want to go riding all by
myself?this wnee! And, of course,
you had to be up and ubout and spoil
everything!"'
"llless your heart!" he said. "I'm
not going to ruin your day the very
tirst thing. Far he it from tne to hutt
it: where angels fear?where one angel
does not fear to tread," he corrected,
laughing. "Besides. I only got lip so
early in the hope of being permitted
to smoke at least one pipe in peace.
Cut along with you?and mind you're
not late for breakfast !"
With this she turned and scurried
out of the patio; and Donald tilled and
lighted his pipe, smiling tenderly to
himself as he heard the drumming of
her horse's hoofs die out in the distance.
Something like a quarter of tin hour
later a heavy stud confused roll of
hoofs roused him from the idlest and
pleasantest of daydreams. Knocking
out his pipe against the sill of the patio
well, he sauntered curiously
through the passageway?and saw
that which startled him out of his
false feeling of security in the twinkling
of an eyelash.
a small squad of the border patrol
was bearing down upon the hacienda
at a dead run, desperate haste and
anxious purpose written plainly on the
face of each man.
Keining in and dismounting in the
same breath, the otllcer commanding
the patrol turned and waved half of
his men away.
"Get on!" he cried. "House the hoys
in the bunkhouse?get every man on
the place under arms, and send him
here in a hurry !"
"What's up?" Donald asked quietly.
"Devil's loose?or I'm in wrong,"
the oflicer told him. "We've .just sighted
half a hundred or more 'Greasers'
headed this way. They crossed the
bonier by the bridge over the arroyo.
God knows what they mean, but if it
isn't mischief, I don't know the signs.
Get your people together and shut
the house up tight before?"
He could not finish for the suddenness
of that onslaught which, with no
more warning, swept down upon the
devoted hacienda with the fury of a
black squall out of a blue sky.
In mid-speech the oflicer broke off
and ducked into the passageway as
Hie vanguard of the raiders appeared
on the crest (if the nearest rise and
Incontinently opened fire 011 the group
at the entrance to the patio.
His men followed hhn without nn
instant's hesitation, leaving their
mounts to run free; and then Donald,
I
obliged to concede the impossibility of
facing that charge in the hope of
breaking through and satisfying his
frantic solicitude for I'atrla, was
driven into the patio by a veritable
hail of bullets,
Stout wooden ??..?.i>, strapped heav-1
Ily with iron, closed the inside end of !
the passage; and these were hastily
barred by the troopers, while Donald
ran to find himself a weapon and the
household wakened to find itself besieged.
Following tlie disappearance of Donald
there was a brief lull, during
which no shots were fired by the raiders.
Then, as Donald ran out from his
room to the gallery, a rifle in hand, a
frightful detonation rocked the hacienda
on its foundations and the dynamited
gates of the patio were blown
In, hopelessly shattered and splintered.
A cloud of smoke momentarily filled
the passage; as the draught drew it
outward, bullets began to rain inward.
The defenders were driven to cover
behind the well and other coigns of
shelter, whence they responded with
in ineffectual fire; half a doaen Mexicans
fell, but the momentum of their
'hnrge carried two score Into tins
*y, ',, ' <>'
e y . r....
, V \ i , *f . . } tti r<
**V *'
' *$*'
inorama of Inferno.
courtyard uninjured, find firing fust."
immediately the defense ot tlu> hu*
elenda resolved Itself Into a series of
hand-to-hand encounters. I'nrr, crouching
behind the well sill, had two troopers
shot down at his side before-lie was
enveloped in a rush, borne bodily fr^ni
his feet, disarmed and man-handled.
Fighting as he had never fought hefore,
he struggled clear for an instant
?tiling off the raiders who clung 'to
him like wolves to the thinks of a st:<tr.
and found his feet again, half his clothing
ripped from liis body, his hands
empty.
In that abbreviated breathing spell
he saw the patio as a panorama of inferno,
a pit of smoke and llanie win rein
1111>ii u'liUiiiowl it.l ?? ?.; i I...-I lti*** ? "?'
tiles in a furnace. High above hiiu
he caught a glinips of l'.ess Morgan,
kneeling before her bedchamber door,
on the gallery, ami defending the
stairs, a revolver in either hand, deadly
determination in her look.
Then I'arr was assailed from hehind.
A clubbed rifle descended on
his skull with murderous force. lie
rocked blindly for an instant, then
pitched forward into unconscious night.
That proved the culmination of the
attack. With Captain I'arr insensible
and a prisoner, the leader of the raiding
party ordered a retreat in good
time to escape 'lie charge of the Outlining
cowpunchers through the rosegarden.
LOVERS' LEAP.
IVlting across country at a round
pace, joying in the free swing of the
unjaded nnimnT beneath her, drinking
in delight with every deep-drawn respiration
of the clean, "ool air ol early
morning, I'atria swung a wide tire
through trackless fields before, some
twenty minutes after leaving the hacienda,
she drew rein to rest and
brent he her horse.
It was then that a sound of distant
tiring was carried to her on the wings
of the wind which was moving from
the quarter wherein lay the hacienda.
Definitely frightened, she swung her
horse's head about and spurred him
down the main road, hut a hundred
yards or so short of the junction
with the road to the bridge at the bor-i
der checked the animal again and sat
still, listening to the growing rumble
of many hoofs.
Fearing lest she ho caught in this
rush of horsemen, she jumped down
and led her mount into the shelter of
the roadside trees, then seo ited on
afoot for a little distance to a point
whence she commanded a view of" the
fork in the roads.
TIwpii vlu? vn w firvt un nvcii't
counterpart of that which sli*? 11;t<t
passed in her motorcar the previous
afternoon, stalled by an accident to
one of the wheels, which the Mexican
driver had just succeeded in repairing.
An instant later a cjoud of Mexican
horsemen swept up the road from the j
hacienda and paused at the fork. The !
leader, a burly ruffian, stopped long
enough beside tlie cart to admonisli
the driver in accents that carried
clearly to the girl?familiar as she
wus with Spanish:
"Hurry that t.mrnunition across the
river before the Grlngoes get here?if
you set any value on your skin!"
That was all; but the sight of the
captive lying unconscious across the
horse ridden by one of the Mexicans?
a figure all too readily Identified by
the girl as that of her betrothed?was
enough to decide Patrlu's course of uctioiTT
The raiding party swung on at top
speed for the bridge. The driver of
the oxcart picked up his*feoad and
prodded his beasts to the best pace
they could make. Putria ran back to
her horse, fumbling in the pockets of
her riding coat and finding there the ,
envelope of an old letter.
With the soft-nosed bullet of a loaded
cartridge for a pencil, using the
saddle for a desk, she contrived to
scrawl a simple message on the back
of the envelope:
Mexicans with Capt. Parr prisoner
crossing border by bridge?safe and
trailing them?rush help?P. C.
Folding and tucking the envelope into
the bridle, Patria turned the horse's
head homeward and slapped Its side
wit It the tint of her hand. Surprised
and indignant, the animal snorted and
scurried off. Without giving it allot
iter thought the girl set olT after the
oxcart.
< She was somewhat surprised bo find
that it had made such progress;
obliged to overtake It ere It tiamc withi
in sight of the bridge, or else gloe up
her foolhardy scheme, she succeeded
in the nick of time, with none to spare.
| An instant before the cart, lumbering
in ? haze of dust, left the dhelier of
, the woods that clanked the road, the
1 lntk/vioi/1 t?/l I
9*111 Mll'WI VU 11)1 II1IIIIIIU II tlllVI, IlllX'fll
by the terrified driver, climbed aboard
I and burled herself in the mass of
straw that hid the cases of ammunition.
Then, half-choked with dust and
suffocating with lack of air and heat,
. as the sun beat down upon the straw,
she resigned herself to enforced Inaction
that endured for many hours.
The cart had successfully negotiated
t lie passuge of the bridge and won to
a considerable distance beyond It
when a fusillade In the rear emboldened
the girl to lift up her head, beneath
the straw, and gasp in a few
breaths of clean air while reconnoltering.
The cart was then on rising ground,
lite bridge across ihe urroyo lay !??
n.ttth it and some distance back. She
could see the main body of the Mexicans
which ambushed the Channing
cowpunchers.
A few fell In the charge. Tier heart
bled for them, but her grief on their
account vras a trifle compared with her
anxiety for Donald. He was already
| fur ahead of the oxcart, escorted by
Zolnya and a pfcfccd guard. So much
she hurt gathered from u conference
at the bridge, when the cart paused
for further instructions; and more, she
had then learned that the cart was to
proceed with all speed to a receiving,
depot in lite hills where Zelnya was to
wait with his prisoner till Joined by
the men he had left to guard the
bridge.
It was high noon when at length the
cart lurched its last lurch and CAS'JJflrlo
a dead stop. f
The complaint of its greaseloss
wheels had barely ceased when 1'atrin,
moveless beneath the straw heard >i
voice she knew only too well. It wiWr
Huroki's, ordering the driver to hasten
instantly to a nearby village and tind ?
Zelaya, to advise iiiai that it seemed '
Im*st to remove the prisoner instantly
to n safer place; lie?llurokl?wanted
horses and a guard for this purpose
without delay.
When the driver had gone, grumbling,
llurokl spoke briell.v with another
Mexican, ordering him to stUi.ml
guard over the prisoner pending the
arrival of tin? horses and the guard,
when he was to summon Huroki from
some observation point at no great distance.
There followed three minutes ot
quiet. Then the girl took her life in
her hands and poked her head out of
the straw.
i tie oxean was hi rest oeiore a
small ailntic lint wit 11 an open door.
She could not see through the doorThey
Arrived on the Lio of a Cliff
way, but from the fact that the ragged
Mexican sentry stood close by understood
thut this hut was Donald's temporary
prison.
In the distance she saw Huroki un<tt|
his creature, Kato, passing from viev^
behind a thicket, walking rapidly toward
what appeured to be tlie brink
of r cliff.
There was no time to be lost. Hastily
drawing her pistol, the girl
emerged from the straw and covered
the sentry, ordering him to drop his
ritle and put up his hands?which lie
<lid with grutlfylng alacrity.
Hut he demonstrated more courage
and initiative than she had anticipated
of ids kind. For when she left hinw
momentarily uncovered, while ship
clambered out of the cart, the fellow
made an ill-advised snatch for his gun.
It was necessary to shoot him or be
shot.
Hastening by that twitching Jftody In
tlu? dust before the door, the wrl entered
the hut, finding Donald there,
conscious but sorely battered, and
bound to a chair.
It was a matter of seconds only to
free him. Hut, once he was freed, the
riddle of the next step toward safety*
loomed imperatively, Its solution tr
thing of the utmost urgency.
Already Kato and Huroki, alarmed
by the shot, were hurrying back toward
the hut. Already the sounds of
hoofs approached from the opposite direction.
There was a window in the back of
the hut; through this the fugitives esI
coped, even us Huroki and Ui en-#
I tercd the ammunition depot by its doorway.
i skirting through underbrush,
I they skulked off as far as they might ,
Yivtdor cover. When the pursuit obliged
them to take to tin; open, they found,
j themselves hemmed in on three side* J
and under fire. The only way they
dared run was in the direction of lluroki's
point of observation.
Two minutes later, hotly pressed,j
they arrived on the lip of a cliff not
less than two hundred feet In height,
commanding a wide view of the sui*rounding
country.
At buy, Hurr turned and emptied
Patria's pistol at their pursuers, dropping
two Mexicans and momentarily^
checking their rush. ,, ^
- ?? *-1 xr xvuu iiimiiiiK iur 11!
?one after the other the loverVfrnped
from the cliff.
A dense growth of foliage at the bottom
saved them, breaking the force ol
their falls.
Half senseless, bruised and scratched
and breathless, they lay on the ground
i beneath that friendly screen of leaven
I till the sound of hoofs and firing dre^j
them out, cautiously, to the edge &
the forest.
Along the road that skirted It th?
i rear guard of the raiding party woi
| Hying for its life.
In prrrfult came a strong companj
;>f the ('banning cowpunchers.
(END OP ELEVENTH EPISODE.)