Adventure Trails, February 1929 — page 28: what you’re looking at

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

"23 %s ; fooling my people: ?” she blazed at last, her blue eyes snapping. “FT say it, and I can prove it,” said Ted quietly. “I do not understand what part __- you play in the plan, but I do know that __ he is playing you as a pawn which is very Shortly to be sacrificed.” “You said you could prove that?” asked the girl. — ——- “—Do you read French ?” Ves.” “Then it is easy to prove.”’ Ted glanced over to where his prisoner was tied, saw that he avas safe, and then drew the girl out of sight behind a screen of dense foliage. _ He drew then from his pocket the in- tercepted message, and handed it to the girl without a word, watching her intently as she read it. He saw her lips work angrily as the full méaning of the letter sank into her brain. ‘When she had finished she folded up the Jetter and returned it to Ted. “J will tell you everything !’’ she replied, her eyes flashing, her face pale with re- pressed anger. “I will show him that he cannot use me to further his selfish, hor- rible ends. This note makes much clear Boe to me, a - “Ft is not my country that he is inter- SS: ested in—it is his Red cause. I know of | that, and—zgh! it is horrible! And to a think he would dare to make me a party to his plans! I will tell him to his teeth—” Ss She flung out from concealment, starting sor the writer of the revealing letter, and = stopped short with a little cry of dismay. a “He is gone! Escaped!” Zs It was true. Somehow the Scorpion had exerted his terrific strength to loosen the ropes with which he had been tied, and -—s im the few minutes that Ted and the girl had been out of sight, he had taken the ta best of the horses and disappeared. = Ted said something under his breath. as _ The words he used were not nice words. = But they relieved his furious feelings ee somewhat. S—— “Tl put a trig in your wheel yet!” he Se swore, “I’ye still got an ace up my sleeve!” ————_ ADVENTURE TRAILS xI WHILE THE CLoups GATHERED ID Jarnoff tell you where you were going?” asked Ted as they rode down the trail. The girl shook her head. “He never told me pas eo: than he had to.” “Well, then, we still have a good chatted of beating him,” decided Ted. you know where this hut is, to which he refers.” “It is not far,” said the girl very softly. “It was where my father lived for many years, I—I don’t know why I tell you this, a gringo, but I feel the bottom has dropped out of things. That what I have been taught is not proving true. Those I have been told to love and trust have proven untrue and unworthy ; those I have. been taught—to hate... .” She looked away, leaving the sentence unfinished, and Ted saw there were tears in her eyes. “T understand,” he said quickly. everything, but enough. Let’s not talk of those things any more. Later... .’ Ted also left a sentence unfinished. He felt that now was no time to even suggest the things he knew he would want to say to this girl—later. “If Jarnoff didn’t tell you where you “Provided “Not. were going to hold the big meeting, he’ll © feel perfectly safe. He doesn’t know his messenger was intercepted, and will have no idea that we know of his plans. “T shall attend that meeting — and I think Mr. Jarnoff -will meet with some rather unpleasant surprises about that time!” he finished grimly. “But it would be as much as your life is worth to go there!’ exclaimed the girl. “You do not know the feelings of these people. Their hate for a gringo is a ter- rible thing. And Jarnoff will stir them— he is a wonder at that sort of thing. His personality, his great voice—I tell you he can set fire to them, as he promised to do. You must not go!” Ted smiled. It was good to know that the girl cared what happened to him. But he shook his head stubbornly. aa (©