% i MIT RTT CHAPTER XVII oe} Ge The Finding of Gomez, The little squad of cavalry moved ap wae creek bottom with much cau- tion. The rangy young lieutenant, ex- ercising his first independent cone mand, was determined to neglect no precaution. Deborah hegged for haste, but the officer remained adamant, and, at last, in a chaos she rode on listlessly be- side him. Kelleen must be dead; she dare not even dream anything else, She had heard the shot, seen the burst of flame, caught sight of his toppling body pithg- ing over the edge of the cliff. The men who shot him had no doubt; they had fired to kill, believed they had killed; and gone away satisfied— Bob Meager and the Mexican. She shivered at the memory of them, Her husband! that murderer her husband! He could claim her, would claim her if he lived; legally she belonged to him. The ceremony was sacrilege, a hideous mockery, yet it was legal, legal; it left her forever in the power of that bhruté, She shuddered at recollection of that scene In the ranchhouse, the leering, drunken faces, the sharp volce 6f Judge Gar rity, the brutal grip with which Bob Meager held her, those hateful words shame. And then the struggle to save herself: the hours of torture wilting for his coming, the broken door, the ecluteh of his hands, the hot, drunken breath on her face, the blow set her free. Good G—d! #ll be true! The fresh night alr, the escape through the black night, meeting with Daniel Kelleen. He had been a man, a real he had died for her. Unchecked, un- noticed the tears welled into her eyes. and fell on the saddle pommel. She nothing but that they were riding now to bring back his body. She had al- most known before that she loved him, but now, in bereavement and de- brightness and had gone life. live—the wife of Bob Meager. hope the little cavalcade debouched the bed of the forced jaded horses up the bank, and came to where the riders could look down into the half-concealed valley below, Advance scouts awaited them here stream, among the curving downward were there any signs of human pres ence in the lower valley. i The lleutenant studied through his glasses yet vaguely sus picious of some trick, the sergeant, and Deborah, finally spoke to “but It seems deserted. ognize anything?” She sat straight In the saddle, the directions. “l can never forget. by that big rock; you can see a whisp of smoke even now. This trail must lead direct. Over there,” she hid her face for an Instant in her hands as though to shut out the sight, “is the cliff over which Captain Kelleen fell, and just beyond, at the upper end of the valley is the cave | told you about. I—1 am going down whether you and your soldiers come or not. I—I must learn the truth.” She forced her horse forward, and the others followed, walting for no command, the sergeant riding almost beside her in the narrow trall. They found the storehouse, back within the shadow of the great rock, so concealed by trees as to be invisible a few yards away. It was deserted, unguarded ; and satisfied a® to this fact, convinced by a hundred signs that the entire outfit had Indeed returned the way they came, the lleutenant seattered his force to explore the upper valley. His mood had changed from suspicion of this girl to faith Im ber strange story. Thin were exactly as she had described. Dismounted, their horses being led behind them In resgli- ness for any emergency, the squad ad- vanced, the men with carbines in their bands. The sergeant kept close mn ngainst the southerm cMff until he came to where Deborah pointed out the spot of Kelleen's fall. They found no body, no sigas to indicate any such tragedy. Carney gased about In per plexity. . “Yeu are sure this is the place, mish?" he usked ddubtfully, 8, Sergeant; we were on the rock up there, the one jutting oii} ever the edge; there Is no ether spot Hie 18.” # eyes, narrewed, surveyed the nee, marking every detail, “Then It's y he struck ‘them trees, miss, and there may be a ledge He foot and out of erev- progress upward. Once or twice he paused, as though blocked, clinging to the face of the cliff like a fly, yet found a say, and went on. Those he. low watched breathlessly until the man finally crept over an outcropping ledge, imperceptible from where they stood, and disappeared. It seemed ns though he was gone a long while. Deborah, hand pressed on her heart, naver removed her eyes from the spot, or stirred. What had he found up there? Surely he must have discov- eged something—the dead, mangled body, no doubt, Then he appeared again, alone, standing up and gazing down at them. His volce as he hailed them below, sounded clear, exultant, a new ring In its tone, “He ain't here, miss, but, by G—d, gir, 1 belleve he's alive” Deborah could not speak, could not utter a sound. Alive! Allve! why that was Impossible; her very heart seemed to stop beating. She could only stare up at the man dazed and helpless, It was the lleutenant who answered, “You say he [s alive Carney?” “Well, he sure left here alive, sir, and on his own legs. | found the place where he come down, an' where he got on his feet again, There wasn't nobody else here helpin' him, an' he started off along this ledge— limpin' a bit, 1 should say, but goin’ alone. Whatever happened since, sir, inly left here able to navigate, Maybe 1 better follow the trail?” “Yes, go on, Sergeant.” Deborah's limbs trembled go conld scarcely walk for the first steps. She clung gratefully to her gaze never the man moving cautiously along the narrow ledge of rock high above them, Alive! Danlel Kelleen was allvel Nothing else mattered: Her hands clasped tightly at the offi- cer's sleeve, “Have the sergeant have him hurry! He doesn’t need to grace Captain Kelleen's trail. [—I am sure | knew where he was going” “Where was that?™ “To the cave I had found, and told him about: it is there beyond that ind G4, Lieutenant, } =f or 8 a. HOE 5 OnE Poe thes she few the do hurry: please Just mot Good are found him al There were two animals in a tittle hobbled, and nibbling grass, but both bridied. They had the Meager ranch brand on their Banks® and the ser geant, the pariy below, followed the trall of HOTSes gra have ready COve, short saddipgd joining easily two men on foot until they circled the mound of earth, and ascended the opposite side, nger held back. the danger yet fully realizing confront. ing them. “Be careful here” certainly least, and let she warned, in there—two or they will shoot. me show you; 1 three, at Sergeant, know the way." They were already before the cling. ing vines; her hands trembled as she forced these aside revealing the black vacancy behind. The startled : ser ing bewildered into the vold, his serv. ice revolver thrust forward, an oath breaking from his lips. “By G—d! but this beats h--1, sir. Dn jt. but I'm goin’ in!" He went over the barrier of rock unmolested. unstopped, and recklessly Deborah followed. The leutenant paused an instant, “Jones, you and Cajhoun follow ns; the others remain out here. Keep your eyes open, lads” The next moment he had gjso scram. bled through the opening. and erouched down beside the trembling girl. Just ahead the two could dimly distinguish Carney, leaning forward, peering into the total darkness beyond. “It's—~it's perfectly level, the floor 18,” she whispered. “You can follow slong the wall—I did.” They advanced together slowly, feeling their way, scarcely a sound breaking the silence. Suddenly the sergeant, slightly in advance, stopped, feeling at something on the floor with his feet; then he stoeped over, “By Gd. here's a dead man!” “A dead man! Are you sure? “He's dead all right, sir. Where's the flashlight? We've got to find out what this means." “Jones has it: Jones, some up here, Give me the flash” The round glare of light struck the side walls, swept over the still kneel Ing sergeant, glinting on his drawn weapon, and then touched the motion tess hody entstretched on the floor. At last Nt rested on the upturned face "Rhe sergeant stared dowm as though he sav a ghost, “By Gd!" he ejaculate] at Imat, “by Gd! it's the old devil Nimself f° “What's that, Carney! you know him?" “Know him! Why, sir, Lieutenant, it's QGontez, Manuel Gemez—there's fifty thomsand dollars on him dead or ave, Well, he's dead al right” "Gomez, the outlaw; but are yon sure?” “Spre,” the. sergeant rose to his feel and swung about. “Sure? Hol your parden, sir—why moalat Kbe sure? [I've chased that od fox éver since I've been in the army, twenty years, sir. Twice we were after him down In old Mexico. It's Manuel Gomez iying there, and it was a knife that kitled him." The boy leutenant's face wns white in the reflected light, but his lips were firmly set, “Well, he's dead how.” he »ild stern. ly, “and it {8s up to us to tind out what all this means." He lifted the flash from off the up- turned face, and sent it dancing along the gray walls into the black chasm ahead, “But, Lieutenant, this ain't no cave, sir; It's a bloomin' mine,” a voice spoke from behind in tone of sur prise, “What makes you think that, Cal- houn¥” “Cause It's been hilasted ly, sir, or else picked, [I've been a miner myself, and ought to know, Muybe there was 8 cave yere once, but 1 tell yer, sir, these yere walls have been hand-worked, or I'm a plker.” “All right, we've got to explore the passage just the same, on men." He flashed the warning light ahead, as they advanced, taking his own place heside the sergeant, and compelling Deborah to remain behind with the two soldiers. As the passage curved out most. Lome with extreme caution, to gain view of what lay hidden beyond, Carr reach ing out his hand to send the flicker of light dancing down the narrowed tun. nel, sponse, awoke no sound of movement, and Carney venfured to protrude his head far enough around the protect. ing rock to gain view of what was beyond. needed to reveal the scens. At end of the passage, down through that the ( / . “It's the Olid Devil Himself” slight opening, leading to the desert above, streamed the glare of day, been blindly feeling his way forward, It rested, a pool of light on the floor, and in Its very center, every detail outlined as in an etching, were two bodies, one face downward, curled In grotesque shape, the other lying at full length, features upturned to the low roof. Beyond these the flare of the flashlight, leaping across this nar row space of day, exhibited a jumbled mass of rock blocking the passage from top to bottom. They seemed to have attained the very end of things, The startled sergeant stared speech. less-—first at those motionless bodies, death pictured In each attitude: then beyond at = strange, ghastly, white face, on which the, searchlight fan. tastically played. Suddenly some. thing else reflected into his eyes, the sparkle of am uplifted revolver's pol ished tube, “Who are yon?" asked a hoarse volee sternly. “Stop thebe until you answer.” “My G4, sir!” was the instant ery. "I'm Carney, Sergeant Carney, Captain. We've cpme here for you, sir.” The threatening revolver sank weakly, and Carney and the lieg tenant, oblivious te all else, rushed forward, circling the two dead bodies Ip their eagerness to reach the one ve man beyond, held helpless in that fall of rock. Debora. left in the dark. acss’' behind, groped her way forward, dared, speechless, only one fact eaho Ing in Fer mind-