Argosy and Railroad Man's Magazine — page 120: what you’re looking at

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

462 “T guess it used to be the store-room,” the young creole announced, ‘and it was built close to the well for the sake of cool- ness.” » “Maybe,” Jude admitted, “ let’s go,” Again they climbed through the opening and, monkey-fashion, ascended to the sun- light. Once there De Cardas was for going at once to Fred’s home. “But I tell you,” Jude expostulated, *“ she ain’t there.” ““ Maybe she has returned,” De Cardac rejoined. ‘She was not with those men.” They went to where Jude had hitched the horses and, mounting, started toward the little house where lived Fred and Mary Ann. They advanced cautiously, availing themselves of the high grass. And when they had arrived within about a mile of the place, they left their horses and crept for- ward on foot. The two men seemed perfectly cool and made trite remarks to each other, but with- in they were so full of excitement that they could, with difficulty, control themselves. When they drew near the house they heard voices, Women were speaking with- in. One of these women was Mary Ann. CHAPTER XXII. THE ABDUCTION. N foot, Mary Ann and Polly prepared to depart from the Rogers house. They spread a sheet over the body of! the murdered man and crept away, hating to- leave the door unlocked and yet having no means of fastening it. It was early in the morning and the sun shone beneficiently upon the prairies, now beginning to show faintly green, for spring was well under way. They were unarmed, and apprehensively they traversed the mile and a half of open country; but nothing occurred to alarm them. And when they reached Mary Ann’s home they were not surprised to find the house deserted. Fred had gone, and so had the two ne- groes, but this time young Pope had thought sufficiently of his wife to leave a note. She found this stuck in a crack between the ARGOSY AND RAILROAD MAN’S MAGAZINE, steps of the rude staircase. Hurriedly she opened it and read: Steve Rogers has been -killed by the In- dians. I am going with Ed and the Carring- tons in pursuit of the murderer. The moment you|get this go at once to. the Carringtons’ house, and stay there until I come back; and for God's sake be careful. Yours, EP; So Fred had departed again, on some one else’s business, if not absolutely for- getting his wife, at least making no effort to assure himself that she was safe and out of danger, Of course he had no way of knowing where she was or under what circumstances she was going to spend the night; but she felt that he should have made an effort to find out. She was an- noyed, and determined not to go to the Car- > ringtons, if for no other reason than to irritate her husband. . She had scarcely made this resolve whe Thetis, Melissa, and the Misses Lord ar- rived on the scene. Mary Ann, not know- ing who her visitors were, looked them over through a loophole high up in the wall. The four women were armed, almost to the teeth. It did not seem humorous to see guns swung around the shoulders of the mother and daughter, but the sight of the Misses Lord, each brandishing a large pistol with which she menaced the life of herself and all in the neighborhood, was almost too much for Many Ann. She hastily unbarred the door and allowed her visitors to enter. ‘Steve Rogers has been killed and scalped,” the Misses Lord announced in chorus, their teeth chattering with fear. “And we have been terrified about you,” Thetis added. “Last night Fred and Ed Rogers came by our house and took with them all of our men. They are scouring the country now for the Indians.” Melissa interrupted her mother to re- mark: “We were told you were coming to us. Your husband said so.” Mary Ann looked at her and smiled. “Well, I didn’t come,” she said. “So I see,” Melissa retorted. “You don’t mind your husband so well, now that you are getting used jto him.” Mary Ann ignored this remark and, $ =: iw ry comicbooks-com