Copyright by
A. C McClurg & Co.
TYE IIIT
Bh th hh
THE STORY THUS FAR |
— |
SYNOPSIS.—On the Isolated
Meager ranch, on the southern
border, Deborah Meredith, trained
nurse, is in attendance on Mra.
Meager, whose husband has re-
cently been killed, Immediately
after the death, Bob Meager, Mrs.
Meager's stepson, arrives and
takes possession. He insults
Deborah and she resolves to
leave, but there seems no possi-
bility of her getting away. Mea-
ger gloats over Deborah's plight
He her he has sent for a
Justi of the peace, who will
marry them tomorrow. Horri-
fled, the girl secures a revolver,
The justice, Cornelius Garrity,
scoundrel and bosom friend of
Meager, arrives with a party,
among them the “Frisco Kid"
notorious deaperado Despite
Deborah's protests, the
performs the marriage ceremony
Sh escapes and reaches her
There she stuns Meager
the revolver and rushes to
stables, hoping t ure a
horge and escape. she
neets the "Frisco Some-
wow he inspires her with confi-
lence and she explains the situa-
The . "Kid" tells her his
is Daniel Kelleen, that he
1d of Meager They ride
er into the dosert, Pres-
¢ reaMzes that Kelleen Is
3 Kid,” but doasn’t fear
orah hears the ry of
Kid" Kelleen dis-
is seized
rries her to
CAYe
tells
on
justice
room
with
the y BE
at
nd Deborah
who ez
pparently
CHAPTER X-—Continued.
De
searching eyes,
1 objects
the rock
At first
iily
{ the man seated on the
vigible He was huddied for-
as
now
with some
to
she could
walls
the vague out-
rock be-
such grotesque posture
uncouth
the
the great breadth
rifle, on which
leaned. With this discovery came
he Instant assurance also that the |
fellow slept soundly, A thrill of hope |
ourage, and new strength to
Might it
steal forward silently,
sudden
of vines, and gain the free
the bering
| even comprehend what had
The horse was not a hun-
Is away, and even if she had to
leap boldly from off the shelf of rock,
she willingly all for a
escape. Yet she had not ad- |
vanced three steps until she realized |
Impossibility of the effort—the |
sleeping body utterly blocked the pas |
sage.
She conld
realized what the
}
he, could even detect
+ beard,
and the
Wf shoulders,
not be possible
and
spring. clear the |
before
occurred?
dred va
would dare
‘hance at
perceive the fellow now |
with some distinctness, a giant of a |
man, with long, apelike arms, bare |
and hairy, an oddly formed head, al |
most pear-shaped, long halr shading |
the face, and a black beard sweeping |
to his knees. Slowly, silently, without |
actually knowing why, the girl drew
back into the deeper darkness behind |
her, guiding herself with one hand |
against the rough wall. Into her mind |
had come the faint hope of another |
egress somewhere, the very purity of |
the alr suggesting such a possibility,
she even Imagining she felt a draft
upon her cheek. Yet there was no!
glimmer of light. Once her groping |
foot struck against fragments of rock |
left lying where they fell. She bent
«down better to assure hersecif of the
obstruction, and her exploring fingers
touched a pick. It was a mine, then;
this secret excavation had been man's |
work; Nature may have pointed the |
way, but this tunnel itself originated
through lust of wealth. Her captors |
were not outlaws but men crazed by |
fear of losing what they had uncov-
ered In these rocky hills. Yet this
knowledge rendered. her situation no
whit less dangerous,
Deborah crept forward over the pile
of debris, discovering that this fall of
stone did not denote the ending of the
passage. Snddenly her groping hands
revealed a sharp curvature in the tun-
nel, and she worked her way about
the corner with utmost caution. Then
she stopped, rooted to the spot, her
heart almost ceasing to beat. Far
above, up what appeared to be a
sharply inclined chute through the
solid rock, came streaming down a
single ray of daylight, its faint reflec.
tion resting directly upon the upturned
fuce of a dead man, stretched on the
tunnel floor,
Deborah, startled, swayed back
against the wall for support, staring
down Into that white, upturned face,
clearly revealed within the little pool
of light. It was the face of a young
Kn, his dark, wide-open eyes staring
Uhdly up Into vacancy, his brown
hale cut short, almost good-looking
even In death, with cheeks freshly
shaven. This last was what aroused
the girl, brought her back quickly to
fe and action. He had the appear-
ance of having shaved that very morn-
ing; the stubble of his beard was not
even visible. Then she noted two other
facts-—~his revolver was In the holster
nt his waist, and the hand, held up-
right against the side wall, grasped
ea folded paper. He had just been
|
{
killed, not more than two hours before
surely, and in no duel—perhaps he had
fallen to where ne lay while climbing
But the
She must learn the
On her knees, exerting all her
—the man had been shot in the back.
She seemed to comprehend It all in
He must have
one the deed-—that older man with
beard—shooting treacherously
It had been deliberate
her feet.
from behind.
murder,
clear. To all appearances the nseassin
after he fell. Confident of the deadly
be some reason behind {t all.
It was too celd, eruel, deliberative not
to have definite cause. No speculation
pow could sclve the mystery, but the
murderer still lived; he was back
vonder In the darkness she had
left. He no more
than he had shown merey to this
If he
her
other
must take
£1 7H —
would gpare
still slept she
for es
the one chance up that long Mm
Hght at the
across the
ng her skirts tightly
hesitated for an
sessed by a new thought
paper might explain all,
rove the very key to all this mystery
She bent, and wrested It from out the
stiffened fingers,
to learn what it contained.
thick, tough the folds
yellow and dirty as though
earried a long while, and
writing inside, In fine penmanship, b
80 indistinct her «
single word
She thrust it
her blouse, her
searching the only possible way
toward the gleam of
i
top
te] pea
In one
then instance,
endeavoris
hastily &
It was a
tf
sheet,
there
yes were
in
into
eyes
It scarcely promised eve
revealed by that single ray
ing the passage.
irregular sized hole, worn
and, while wide enough at the
extremity to permit the entrance
uligrown man,
the upper opening so as to make
very doubtful If an ordinary
dlr beyond.
chance of deliverance, She could
remain there with the dead man, nor
murderer remained
Her belt was still
the
guard
asleep on
stuck It into her own.
the light from above glimmered
a pearl-stodded handle, and a barred
of blue steel],
sufficiently wide apart to afford com-
paratively easy passage.
in the darkness below
almost Inch by inch, soon creeping
over a narrotv shelf, able, finally, to
one side, where the stone had been
hollowed out for a few Inches. She
wns breathless from the hard climb,
her heart beating rapidly. She could
see nothing, hear nothing, yet her mind
pictured agnin the dead face of that
boy staring up at her—she could not
go back to that! Nor to that other
living horror beyond! She must go
on; better to die there, caught help
lessly In that rocky hole, than ever
to fall again Into the power of that
beast. She listened intently, hearing
nothing: then lifted her hands to feel
upward. She lifted one foot, seeking
a fragment of rock to rest upon. Then
a flare of red lit the Inferno, a dull,
muffled report echoed along the im
prisoning walls, and a bullet brushed
her halr, flattening itself on the reck
beyond.
She shrank back into the little niche,
scarcely certain of her escape, and
rested these on her knees, not ventur-
Ing to move. The shot had come from
below ; of that there could be no doubt,
but there was no other report, no
movement to reveal any presence,
Deborah had no question as to who
had fired-it must be the man she
had fled from In the outer cave. He
must have seen her outlined against
that round opening above, It was na
miracle she had escaped; but to have
seen her the fellow must have stood
directly beneath, beside the body of
the dead man. ' Perhaps he would be
there still, peering wp to learn the
result of his shot, wondering where
she had disappeared so quickly, She
was, safe enough where she was, be
hind that barrier of rock, and she
drew the revolver out of its holster,
and listened eagerly for any sound of
guidance from below. If he made any
efrort to climb up, she meant to shoot
to kill
She dare not venture to advance
her face around the rock edge, for
fear the movement might bring her
into view against that vista of light.
The fellow was evidently waiting and
by her strange disappearance. Ne
doubt he half belleved his bullet
found its mark, that she had fallen
either wounded or dead, Into some
that narrow tur lL
could not remain there indefinitely
walting for him to gain
the ascent, Her
weapon in it, reached
out beyond the edge of the rock,
pointed downward. A rattled
ture up
hand,
the noiselessly
stone
the
and
into
olen,
body,
elplessly,
the rocks, the red flush of dis-
“harge faded into
pungent blew bnek
face: but there was nothing
cry, no crunch of a falling
She listened hb
darkness,
smoke
No
weapon into that
below,
of tense expectation
g
through that opening w
ing its power, as though the
going down. If she
must go while
way
would
she could
Desperate as the cl
She d
down, or permit herself
the 1 danger
with lips closely
d not look
to
wssible
pressed together,
beating rapidly,
inch by Inch,
body against the side walls as thoug!
heart she her
self
drew
"
up,
bracing
She Listened Eagerly for Any Sound
From Below,
in a chimney, making use of every
projection as a support to either hand
the opening overhead, Her courage
had returned; there had been no at-
tack from beneath, no evidence of
life,
Deborah reached the end of her
climb hreathless, her limbs aching
from exertion, her Reart sinking with
dismay. It never could be accom
plished, the passage of her body
through that narrow opening to the
world without. How sweet the fresh
alr felt; how beautiful the blue arch
of sky, yet It was hopeless of attain-
ment. The very madness of the
thought proved her salvation. Crazed
for the moment, she began to dig
fiercely with her fingers at the ob
struction, tearing at a projecting point
of rock, which suddenly yielded to the
farious attack, a stream of loospned
sand pouring after. Little by little,
madly tearing at the sides of the ork
fice, she managed to wear away every
fragment back to the sold rim of rock.
She unbelted the revolver and flung
it through the opening; then drew her
self upward, fearful every instant of
being irretrievably caught, yet find.
ing purchase below for her feet suffi
elent to thrust her slender body stead:
ily forward. At last, her shoulders
emerged Into the outer day, and she
was enabled fo drag the rest of her
body over the rim of rock. Utterly
exhausted, Deborah lay on the sand,
gasping for breath, conscious only that
she bad found refuge In a shallow
ravine, She lay there outstretched
in the shadow of a steep bank, with:
out strength even to lift her head,
CHAPTER XI
More Complications.
Deborah felt that she never would
regain power to rise, yet this total
exhaustion passed away, as she began
to breathe more easily, and finally she
sat upon the sand, gazing about her
strange surroundGings, eager to dis
cover whet she could attempt next,
She had escaped from that hell under-
ground, yet was but little better off
than before. Bhe was upon the edge
of the desert stretching outward
toward the Meager ranch, It wonld
be lmpossible to c¢rosc this on foot,
with neither food nor water to sus
tein her; nor could she for a moment
contemplate seeking refuge there, even
if it were possible. Her only hope
was to circle that hidden chasm, and
then endeavor to find her way north
until she reached some buman habita-
tion. The hope of accomplishing this
was the merest mirage; the attempt
probably meant death. She had no
horse, no food, yet somehow, In the
exhilaration of that first moment
release, she could not wholly despair.
courageously, and trust Him.
She arose to her knees, and looked
about. It was a lonely, contracted
scene, amid which she was concealed
Some rift In the rocks led down
opening through which she had
ust crept. Perhaps It had formed a
vatercourse In other ages, but now
mantle
100
50
and covered all with a yellow
desolation. The sides we
foot, the le
t. 80 she was
of the
For the
tha of
#1 5
of re
» Yen on
attemy
the course
defile in seeking a way out
yards of advance
ihe
gusniiede
Buspicion
patch of sagebrush
and she was threading he
when the
caused her to crouch sud-
idst of the thicket
daring to
3
which
speaking
lie motionless, scarcely
It was the voice [tself
her every a volce
recognized, never be for-
gotten—the volee of Bob Menger
He not the blow
ne !
and
\
fingers dug
volition,
10
Was dead, then;
had
and
wrah’s
than
more
she
man,
I edie
OF Pred
ected that
fen away together
ike
spok ©
the vole
“ye
i won te
you to
yt It? 1 wone
when
1
nly.
: only y
also
You
before.
your game
tried
Bol,
Very
same once
has never worked
the brains t
told
haven't got
Caseheor never
nor Garrity. All
me any-
in your life, and when
“What
mean?”
“This ranch inheritance
fixed up so nicely for you.
haven't all the dope—not yet.
deal, ‘Kid’? What do you
No, 1
ut I'm
deel I ever heard about, and It will
blow up lke a punctured balloon just
enough to see a good lawyer. That's
true, ain't it, Bob?
“The old man left it to me"
“Yes, he didnot. 1
old Mex when I first heard what was
going on up here, Young Clair got
hold of one end of the story somehow,
and told it to me. You remember
Clair?"
“He worked here on the ranch”
“Yes: that's what made him talk
He's square, that kid, and you fired
him, and every other American on the
place; then put on Mexicans. That
made him sore. When he told me
that I came pretty near knowing what
was up.”
“You aid, hey!
the game?”
“Why shouldn't I, Bob? 1 held you
up when you was flat, didn’t I? There
js no reason why you should forget
me now, Den you! I mean to see
that you don’t. That's what I'm here
for, Now listen—I'm on to what is
going to be pulled off tonight-—this
Casebeer business, You sent Sanchez
and his helper over here to take care
of the Casebeer outfit-~that's right,
jsn't £7
Meager growled something indis-
tinetly, bis eyes angrily watchful, but
Kelleen remained on guard,
(TO BE CONTINUED)
Wanted a hand In
The Addict.
Among Jimmie Maiden's favorite
stories 1s the one concerning the two
men who were getting acquainted
through the medium of casual conver.
sation.
“Do you play golf?" inquired one of
them.
“No,” sald the other, “but I can't give
It up."~~New York Herald
The average woman has less confl
dence In her husband than she has in
her family physician.
TRAVEL
Egyptian Embroidery
Bid for Favor
The new stralghtline wrap-around
coats with Egyptian embroidery run-
in travel coats, writes a fashion cor-
respondent in the N>w York Trilune,
One designer makes a cape of dark
blue serge that extends to the walst
circle,
folds
down
ing in a
black
A scarf of red and
around the neck and
to the hips on the side
held in place by the belt
of the dark blue dress beneath,
There are
the
cape as there
the
A
ie
for travel
Paris, hut
it must be m
practical wool material, with
not mt
suit
in
are
general
nat of some
the cape
1 in front, The
with the cape,
re than his
wearf, ir
is seen «
travel have short coats
rather skirts,
r trim and very untrimmed,
unu braid
ally a fea.
, and if it
in, ghort
Gx
unusual stitching,
buttons. The pocket is us
{f these i {8 incon-
y the
handkerchief,
gometimes
corative
for travel
Another
that
desir:
suits
of suede are smart ar
1seful
8 for the jour
affairs with fur
bold
stripes
There are long wraps
h are loose
1 nese nre
in
inch of
\
Travel Coat in Which Green and Gray
Drapella Are Combined, Using Green
for Pointed Sections on Cape Collar,
Sleeves and Hip Band,
stripe.
Sach coats are usually worn
over dresses,
described.
Coats and capes of this
in Odd Loose Stitch
iy
AR
pre
#
in tangerine and
solid gray collar,
nickel gray, with
cuffs and bottom,
appeal to
many young women.
A
Many Kinds of Gloves
to Please All Tastes
gauntiet gloves, very short,
mbroid-
effect,
Utility Coat Likely
to Be Fall Favorite
i ie
a sche
sent, and in the women's, a prac-
al coat for all-wear.
Camel's hair cloth, d
group pleid-back
the array mediums used for
which for most part
are marked by convertible collars of
generous size, with large patch pock-
ets, such as are indispensable in the
topeoat. Others are developed on
straight, semi-wrap lines,
Fur collars finish many
fabrics and
special cloth
Ld
ol
the
of these
assortments,
Let in the Sun.
I'm the old dass, blinds and curtains
i
the sun for fear its rays would fade
some precious carpet or rug. Now sun
and alr are welcomed gladly and peo-
i
know better—Milwaukee Sentinel.
More and more of women's clothes
simple arrangement is a decided Im-
provement over old-fashioned, compli-
cated fastening.
any woman wanting to go back to
!
is the question, “How do you manag
the elastics” in
bloomers? Do they always go
pieces in the first washing?”
A little eare and thought expended
i
i
i
!
In buying braided elastic, you can
get either the flat or the tubular. The
rubber threads run lengthwise in the
flat elastic, and have the cotton “tov.
der the elastic threads.
In the round elastic the braid is tub.
round called “oval elastic.”
When it comes tc comparing the
{tes construction, and which insures
i
i
i
i
So you can readily see that
the stralr and wear on bralded elastic
stretched. ;
The difference In the way elastics
are made divides them into two types,
the woven and the braided.
Wide elastics, and that used for arm
bands, garters and hose supporters, are
usually woven. To make this woven
elastic, the warp threads of yarn, and
of rubber are set up on the loom to-
gether, the rubber being stretched to
equal the length of the yarn threads
The yarns used in making elastic web-
bing may be cotton, mercerized cotton,
artificial slik and silk. Good yarn
has a lot to do with the weanag
quality o. your elastic. The "filing"
or weft threads are ‘rut in In such a
way that they are held ia place by
being woven through the warp threads,
and soy as to cover completely and
protect the rubber.
you woukl expect more satisfactory
service from the woven elastic. But
when a smaller elastic is wanted, the
braided type is especially good as
it gives a neater, more finished ap.
pearance,
Experience has proved that heat,
light and grease cause rubber to de
teriorate very rapidly, and a note
made of that fact may be a very ma-
terial factor in prolonging the life of
your elastic.
Poke-Bonnet Type.
A veritable Victorian bonnet of
green slik is one of the sort of
young girls are wearing today.
of the poke-bonnet type, but
smaller and fits very closely
head. Usually the trimming
flowers and frult combined.
pa
ha
It