The Argosy, Vol. 75, No. 4 — page 127: what you’re looking at

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

MESQUITE RANCH. so rough that all four legs in action were needed to save them from falling. With the briefest pauses for food and rest, Natalie urged the men for- ward. Stephens would have worn the soles from his boots and the skin from his body attempting time-saving cross- cuts and speed-making spurts. But Sorg plodded on in the trail and was there to lead when the side-tracked and weary explorers returned to the right route and his wise guidance. A crisp, pale-gold morning was bi- ting their bodies with its exhilarating chill and filling lungs and eyes with the miracle-working air and light when Natalie rounded a big, triangular rock and stopped suddenly. Just beyond it she saw two men. They were talking, their backs toward her, as they gazed down the trail, which dipped suddenly beyond the rock. She was struck by the familiar- ity of one of them especially, while there was about the figure of the other something that she thought she had noticed in some one she had seen be- fore. It was the strength of the some- what heavy figure that she-had seen and noticed. The taller man turned so that she could see his profile. It was Gill of the Double X. Instantly every fiber of her was alive, every power of thought awake. Gill had not been heard of in the neighborhood of the Stone House since his night visit to Radford. He had probably been here in the mountains, and instinct told her that his presence meant trouble for Ted. She backed away from her point of observation, then sped lightly and noiselessly along the trail till she saw Sorg and Stephens coming. With up- lifted hand she warned them to stop. They did, before the noise of their ap- proach could have reached the two men beyond the big rock. Going on toward them she warned her companions not to make a sound in their journey to the place in the trail where they could see the strangers. } 829 She wanted them to look at the shorter man and tell her if he was one whom she might have seen among the punch- ers of the two ranches. But neither Sorg nor Stephens knew the man. Natalie peeped again and again, bothered by the certainty that she had seen him—had seen the breadth of those heavy shoulders and the slight sag in the left one which the flannel shirt revealed. The fact that the man was in con- versation with Gill at that lonely place in a trail that led to the Cochinino claim was enough to make her failure to place his figure where it belonged in her mental gallery very irritating. Then he, too, turned so she could see his face a bit. A heavy beard that ran high on either side of his face reas- sured her and reexcited her. She had seen him before. But where? If she could have stolen nearer so that she could hear distinctly what they said she might have gained some hint of his identity or learned something of the reason for the conference with Gill and whether it did really concern the man who had come to be her one great interest. But a fly could hardly have crossed the bare face of the bald rock without being seen. She dared not make a move forward as long as the two stood there in the trail. Gill would know her instantly. He would guess that she had come either hunting for Radford or carrying him some message. If it was for him that the two men were seeking they would not let her get away so long as they believed she knew the whereabouts of Frederick Radford. She glanced_about, trying to locate a hiding-place for herself and the two men if the stranger and Gill started on up the trail in her direction. But it was a hopeless task. Sheer, smooth, sternly unadaptable to her need, the rock towered up from the trail, and equally sheer, smooth, and horrible it fell away to abysmal depths below. Eomichbooks She knew she had. . (E(0)