Argosy, Vol. 118, No. 2 — page 155: what you’re looking at

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

CROSSROADS, conquered it but found no value in his con- quest. True, all these hicks did not come in sharp, clear words into the mind of Dolores, half child and half woman. But the feel- ing was there. Yet when the eyelids of the outlaw raised and she saw the unendurable keenness of the eyes her own glance wavered and fell away. No matter what his body might be, his spirit was more terrible and unrelenting than ever. That set that fire in the eyes which made his glance something to be felt and shrunk from like the touch of a hot hand or like the drop of an acid. And she understood, even more perfectly than when she had seen the big man in action against the crowd why Senor Onate had dreaded him like an incarnation of the devil. She, also, dreaded him fully as much, and yet the thrill of that terror was ‘pleasant to the fierce Yaqui. = ‘‘ Senor,” she ventured timidly at length” He turned his head puiently toward per and waited. * “ Senorita? he queried. ‘“No. Iam only Dolores,” ‘“ Dolores,” he repeated, smiled at her. “You are thinking much and very quick- ly?” she suggested. “No,” said Dix Van Dyck, “ I’m seeing the face of a man, Dolores, more clearly than I see yours.” ““Onate,” she nodded. ‘““Onate.” she answered. and almost His voice fell dry anid hard on the name. “That is why you take the road to Gua- dalupe?”’ , nz 4 Yes. ”? “But Onate will turn back to Double Bend.” “ How?” ‘ He stayed near the town,” she answered, “to see the burning of the white father from a distance. And when he knows that Senor Van Dyck escaped he will be taken with a great fear. Yes, he will be afraid to leave Double Bend and he will sit in his room surrounded by many men.” She broke into her rare laughter and hugged her knees in an ecstasy of childish, fierce delight. 10 Arcosy 305 “He will pay many men money. He will set them about his garden and his house, and he will wait, shivering, for the coming of Senor Van Dyck. Pah, the dog!” . “The dog!” echoed Van Dyck. ‘“ You are sure, Dolores, that he will not try to go to Guadalupe?”’ “It is true,” she said. ‘‘ To-night he would rather take the road to hell than the trail to Guadalupe. No, he will sit in his house and drink tequila, and for all that he will be cold in his heart. I, Dolo- res, can see him shiver. Pah! I, a woman, have made him. tremble till his knees knocked together.” : “Aye,” said the man curiously. “ You are the daughter of El Tigre. And I think, Dolores, that you have teeth and claws. 1 watched you coming through that crowd of greasers. By heaven, that was a man’s work! And I could see your eyes flash as _ Clearly as I could see the fire of-your guns. “How did you have the heart for a job like that, Dolores?” “It was not hard,” she said simply. eS was for my white father. I was riding to you, senor.” ‘“ And why did you come, Dolores?) Why did you come to the jail and give me the knife? Was it all because I had helped Kl] Tigre?” “Tt is true,” she said. ‘“ Dolores, you lie to me.” “Ah,” said the girl, delighted again,” the white father sees to the heart of his daughter. It is true. I’ came because I had heard a strange story.” cc So?” “Ves, I had heard a story that Senor Van Dyck gave himself to his enemies for the sake of a woman. I-knew it was a lie, but still I came to look. It was a great lie, was it not, senor?” ‘Humph,” grunted Dix Van Dyck, and he grinned broadly at the girl. “Is this to get a yarn out of me, Dolores?” “ Tt is true,” she said frankly. ‘ Dolores - is hungry to learn. dom.” ‘“ Well,” said Dix Van Dyck,” the story sounds queer, but it’s straight.”’ She merely gaped at him, and then the She is hungry for wis- smile dawned, the smile of bright wonder. (EON AMIE vOO