The Argosy, Vol. 81, No. 4 — page 171: what you’re looking at

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

CASTLES Inside of twenty-four hours she found herself famous, with her picture on the front page of every newspaper. Yet the notoriety and the adulation did not serve to turn her head. She remained the same shy, sweet, sensible girl who had come down from Dutchess County with Tom* Bradley on the maddest escapade of all his mad career, simply because she loved him. And she loved him still. Somehow she could not think of him as dead. She knew it must be so, and to this knowledge paid the tribute of her tears; but to her heart he was a living, breathing personality, and it refused to grieve for him. She was always half-expecting to see him come in at the door. With her establishment as the heir to his estate, she took up the business of looking ' after it as the serious interest of her life, and having secured the appointment of Hector Darnton as executor, made him set to work with her to straighten out the tan- ele due to Captain Harry’s mismanage- ment. Day after day, she went down to the of- fice where she had slapped him across the face, and seated there at his big deck, sought to familiarize herself with all the complex details of the business. One of the first things she insisted on doing was to clear away every ugly blemish that restéd on Tom’s memory. ‘The road- . house man was forced to accept payment for his bad check, the charges which Cap- tain Harry had laid were withdrawn. She went personally to old Jasper Cum- mins, and laying five hundred dollars be- fore him, asked that he destroy all evidence relating to the bottle-stopper transaction. “Destroy it?” The old man laughed in her face. “Well, I guess not. Why, that promises to be one of the best things I ever got into in my life.” “But you’re wrong, Mr. Cummins,” she persisted. ‘“‘It was a flim-flam deal they worked on you. This man Grosvenor, who claimed to be the inventor, is a crook and an ex-convict.” “All right. Let him be anything he wants to. I tell you, though, he’s got one of the cleverest devices in the country, and one that’s going to make a barrel of money for everybody concerned. And don’t you think for a minute, my dear girl, that I was flim- flammed in any way, or that I would take your five hundred dollars if I was. When- 11 A 19 IN THE AIR. 737 ever anybody flim-flams J. Cummins, they’re welcome to all they can get away with. ‘““No, my dear,’ he concluded, “‘if you’re the heir to that estate, you take my advice and hug tight to the bottle-stopper. It’ll be grinding out good money for you long after some of your high-priced investments have gone to the boneyard.” So the slate at last stood clean, and Muriel felt that she could devote her whole attention to the management of the estate. She started out with the idea that she would not sell any of the holdings. Her policy was rather to build up and improve, then to let go. _ As they probed deeper and deeper into the tangled condition of affairs, though, it became plain to both her and Darnton that in order to keep certain things going they would have to dispose of some of the less valuable property in order to get ready money, and after some discussion, it was decided that the New Mexican range should be sacrificed. Accordingly she and the lawyer started for the Southwest, and a week later as they were riding to Cherrichuppa Ranch hap- pened to gallop right into a session of the court of Judge Lynch. One of the ranchers came hurriedly out to meet them. “Better take your lady off a piece,” he advised Darnton. ‘“‘We’re just goin’ to string up a rustler that we’ve been trying and found guilty; and women-folks don’t generally care for such sights.” At that moment the prisoner stood up, and Muriel, catching sight of him, gave a startled cry and lashed her pony forward into a run. “Tom! Tom!’ she screamed. ‘‘What on earth have you been doing now?” Heedless of the dignity of the court, she flung herself from the saddle, and a moment later was clasping him in her arms. “Tell me what you have been doing?” she demanded. “Well, they’ve got me charged with steal- ing horses, and as they’ve caught me with the goods, I guess they are going to hang me. But honest, Muriel, it’s only another case of my cursed luck.” ‘But whose horses were they?” she ques- tioned, turning to the circle of hostile faces that glowered at the interruption. ‘‘ Where is the man that owns them?” “Tt do, lady.” The old ranchman stood GomiGcbooks (C@