Adventure Trails, February 1929 — page 26: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

\— ey ~~ But how? He was unarmed, and weak from his strenuous trip and the lack of food. And the Mexicans were all armed, Sei both knife and gun. He turned the matter over in his mind until the solution came to him, and then, with a grim smile, 4 3 he made his way back to the trail. Half an hour later a sour-visaged Mex- Bs ican with a frayed sombrero came clatter- _ ing rapidly down the trail from the direc- = tion of the camp. He swore at his horse - and pricked the nag’s skinny sides with Ee his huge, __ quickened his speed, rounded a sharp turn 7 aS, RM AON ea Ww a LF eu ta rh 7, ‘ vo whitey 2 0) ge ——— os alo “¢ “< : net eat | i im The horse jingling spurs. and passed under the spreading branches of a gnarled, stunted old oak that grew 3 beside the trail. UST as horse and rider swept beneath the tree something dropped from the tree to the saddle. Startled, the horse leaped forward, and his rider, thrown off his balance by the hurtling body, fell heavily from the saddle with Ted on top of him. The Mexican’s head hit the sharp edge of a ledge that cut diagonally across the trail at that point, and his body went suddenly limp. Ted, suspecting a trick, slipped his hand over the Mexican’s heart. There was no movement; the man was dead. _ Quickly, lest other riders come along, Ted dragged the body into the bushes and destroyed all traces of what had happened. The Mexican’s horse, which had trotted on a few yards and ‘then turned to watch with curious eyes the fate of his late mas- ter, was easily caught up and also led out of sight. The Mexican’s revolver and cartridge belt were appropriated at once, and then Ted started searching the man’s pockets for food. He found it, and likewise something that caused him to straighten up with a low whistle of astonishment. The Mexican had been a messenger; and this was the message he had borne: The girl is beginning to ask too _many questions. Two nights ago I hold up some lone rider either from or to Fe "the camp. - ADVENTURE TRAILS — think she helped a Yankee meddler to escape, and no doubt he will bring the Government hornets buzzing about our heads shortly. To-day the girl became insistent. We shall have to do away with her after she has served our purpose, I fear. It is a good thing that the meeting is planned for to-night. It is none too soon. Eslava’s idea of holding it at the hut where that old fool, her father, lived and died, was indeed a clever one. It will help my play-act- ing wonderfully. I will set fire to the fuse to-night, and it will take but an instant for the spark to run up to the powder and ignite it. Then, when these fools have in- curred the enmity of all the foreign powers that have built up the coun- try, we will strike a blow for the Red Flag, and strike hard. We cannot fail now! Yours in the Cause, Jarnoff. The letter was written in French, but Ted had more than a smattering of that language, picked up overseas. He had no difficulty in translating the letter. “So!” he smiled when he finished it. “It is sefiorita, not sefior, eh?” The letter ex- plained the secret of the soft, youthful voice and the slim, graceful figure. But what was the secret of her authority and her importance to Jarnoff, who was evi- dently the Scorpion—and why the blue eyes? “Whatever the mystery threatened would evidently break loose to-night, Ted reflected as he stood looking at the letter. He did not stop long to cogitate, how- ever. There was much to be done: he had to see to it that the Scorpion did not reach the meeting, there to “fire the fuse” that he spoke of in his letter. He tucked the letter in his breast pocket, made sure that the Mexican’s gun was in good condition and loose in his holster, and then, swing- ing onto the dead man’s horse, he headed up the trail towards the camp. Ehoo nm (E@) ‘CO