Argosy, Volume XXIII — Index Page, 1897 — page 20: what you’re looking at

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

590 , A CAMPAIGN OF STRATEGY. tenderness to the sentiment with which the comely young woman from the East regarded her handsome cavalier. “Tt is greatly to his credit,’’ remarked the elder; ‘‘ for it proves his goodness of heart. It would be unjust to say that the pretext which it gave him for making another call upon you, Kate, had any weight, and yet,’’? she added with a smile, ‘‘I half suspect it at times.’’ ‘“You do him injustice,’’ the younger hastened to say, with a blush mantling her features, ‘‘ for no such pretext was necessary ; Harvey ‘knows that he is welcome whenever he chooses to come.’’ “That is true, and yet he is so chivalrous and sensitive in such matters that he left us when he knew we all wished him to reman and he him- self wished to do so. It will be pleasant to us all to have him here again | The conversation thus fairly began was suddenly interrupted by the ap- pearance of a horseman, who approached the house from such a point that he was not seen until he dashed around the corner and reined up in front of them. He was Bumble Bee Beebe, and his flushed face and manner showed that he was laboring under intense excitement. , ‘“The devil is to pay !’’ was his startling salutation ; ‘‘ Geronimo and a lot of his bucks are off the reservation and will soon be here.”’ ‘And we are alone!’’ exclaimed Mrs. Bozeman, hastily rising; ‘‘“ what will become of-us?’”’ ‘“They will not be here for several hours; I’ll hurry after the boys and bring them here; I shan’t be gone long ; don’t have any fear. If Ger- onimo should show up, you and Kate can stand him off for a little while. Good by !”’ And the excited fellow dashed off again, and,.as we know, rode to his death. His judgment must have been warped, else he would not have com- mitted his fatal mistake. | The coming and going of the mau consumed such a brief space of time that the sisters looked in each other’s face, as if they hardly understood what it meant, and yet it required but a few seconds for the fearful truth to burn its way into their consciousness. ‘‘He has taken the wrong direction,’’ said the alarmed wife ; ‘‘ Al and Jack are.among the foothills ; he will never find them.’’ She hurried from the porch intending to call to him, but the impetuous fellow was already beyond reach of her voice. ‘Tt may be hours before any of them come,’’ was her half despairing cry ; “though we have a rifle apiece, we shall be able to keep the Apaches at a distance for only a little while. It will not take them long to learn that the house is defended by no more than a couple of women.’’ ‘Perhaps they know it now,’’ said Kate. ‘‘Oh, that Harvey would come !”’ | And shading her eyes she peered searchingly across the sun baked plain, but without a glimpse of the form she longed to see. “He would be of little help; let us pray for the coming of all our. friends.’’ Comics oOoks = (©) |