Adventure Magazine Cover — page 123: what you’re looking at

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

- see him immediately for fear that the shock in his weakness might kill the hacendado. The _ brown peonas of the village had told him, to his _ own boundless astonishment, that he was sus- ~~ pected of having raided Guadalupe more than __ once with these wolves, the Colorados. ____ He wanted El Cenizo to recover a bit ere he should attempt to deny the vile tales and show that, even when he himself had ridden in youthful heedlessness with the dread-réd- hearted ones, never, never had his. hand been lifted against the Hacienda del Cazadero or the least of its good folk. aa HE WENT on to the rancheria to see » that all was well there and to gather ies what landholders still remained. Then _ with five. elderly men at his back, all that he - could find, he returned to the village. One of ____ the ancianos, he sent a horseback for reinforce- ments to the El Dorado Mine, the nearest _ quarters of the Carranzistas, where the shafts and stamp mills had been taken over by the _ constitutionalists and a government mint established. Then he had_ interviewed El — Cenizo. --—-~~-—_—sCOf course, the good Don Jorge, crediting the hideous things he had heard of Dicenta, was appalled to see him; but the women had told him that it was Serafin himself who had cut him down; and he proved willing to listen to the ___ lieutenant’s side of the story. He was too weak to nod his head, to raise a hand; but he could whisper. And in a whisper he sverred that he believed Dicenta’s story, discredited the terrible gossip he had heard of him, put firm high trust in his avowals of faith- IA 7 _ ful friendship. Indeed, to show the strength of his reborn faith in the man, he had imparted to him the knowledge of the secret sign which would cause Mariquita to come to him. Ere he died, he wanted to see his poor little one. . “But I don’t believe, I can’t believe!” cried _ the girl hysterically. ‘You killed most cruelly my poor Aunt Chonita and it was those same = venomous wolves of yours who hanged my father! Oh, I know,sbut your arrival seems too well-timed and: propitious, your change of ____ front too sudden and sugar-sweet. It is all a plot. ae: “You have harassed my poor father to his grave and now you come, a Colorado in Carran- zista uniform, a wolf in sheep’s clothing, to get me into your slimy tentacles.. Oh, you little rat, you beast, you—you vulture!” ~ She would have beaten distractedly at his face had he not leaped back, a hurt expression in his washy blue eyes. “Child!’”? gasped the Mother Superior. “Senorital” exclaimed Dicenta. “I have a letter, a letter from El Cenizo himself! It was I who steadied his hand and, only because he ~ wants you so badly, did he gain strength enough to write!”’ 3 Toyama oe, ate She quieted abruptly, ominously. “Give me it,” she said. He fumbled with the frontal braid of his uniform and from an inside breast pocket pro- duced a folded paper. But the letter was not written in the familiar running, bold chirog- raphy of her father; it was an almost inde- cipherable scrawl, shaky and uneven as though ~ penned by a palsied hand. It might be a ‘forgery or it might be grim evidence of her father’s plight. However, she thought she noticed, in the awry-dotted ‘“‘i’s,” the long- crossed ‘‘t’s” characteristics of her father’s hand. Wit labor, she read: Xina, my soul: Naturally you will be shocked and suspicious but I believe Serafin speaks truth. He has been of great aid in my extrem- ity, surprizingly brave, kind and considerate. No doubt, pained by the frightful things charged against him, he is bent now on showing us, for certain and beyond question, the true heart of his friendship. Put faith in him, and in the good Lord. Serafin is the only one I have to send, as the few others are so old and helpless. I am dying I fear, child of my life, and I want you. May the Mother of Sorrow and Compassion look with divine pity on your journey and bring you safely and speedily, my poor little one, to your father. A torrent of tears came to the relief of the girl, The Mother Superior gliding from her station in the doorway drew the note from the girl’s limp fingers arid read .it over slowly. Then she nodded to the palpably uneasy lieu- tenant. She believed the authenticity of the letter and the truth of his story, knowing naught against the man save the inkling hidden in his own vague admissions and*in Mariquita’s few overwrought ejaculations. She begged him to be most gentle with their little beaten dove and amid a plentitude of pious and sincere invocations, godspeeded them on their way. CHAPTER XXIII WORDS SENT UP FROM PURGATORY ES WHat proved to Mariquita a ride unfor- gettable, seared into her memory like a flaming brand of the whole consuming tragedy of Mexico. Once they sighted, ahead along the road, some artillery. In a yellow eclipse of dust crept toward them the gray straining mules, the rumbling tumbrils and limbers, the sleek lean guns almost toppling over with the jouncing pace. Aboard the rattling carriages and caissons, the great-hatted drivers crackled their long latigos to attract attention to themselves, their teeth chattering with the joltings, but their eyes flinging bold glances at the unconcealable feminine lines of the riding-habited girl. COMIC OOOKS and flourishes to the “‘y’s,” certain ee ea AR Fala’ Alia tal Per Asin Bt Oe pet PER a he <a? ™ ee Aside.