Argosy All-Story Weekly, Vol. 123, No. 3 — page 203: what you’re looking at

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

LAND OF THE SHADOW PEOPLE. them. His hand crept up in its old, nabit- ual gesture. . “Tt is the truth, sezora and senores. She is the Senorita Esmeralda de Ulloa. I have sought her for these many years, and I have found her. She does not understand.” He removed his hat and stepped nearer to the bewildered girl, gazing into her face appealingly. “‘ Senorita—I am your father, senorita— your father, Castro de Ulloa. See?” He drew a chain from his boson and opened its pendent locket. The girl looked at the pic face within the golden frame. “How that can be?” she gasped’ fear- fully. “‘That me! That Nee-Nah!” “No, senorita ’’—the big voice was gen- tle as a woman’s—‘“ it is your mother’s face.”. “* My—mother!” Nee-Nah caught the locket from him. There was that in her eyes which might have compelled even the still, smiling lips of the photograph to answer. They did answer. Clutching the bit of gold and its golden message to her breast, Nee-Nah crept into the trembling arms which were open wide to receive her. Don Castro pressed his lips to her fore- head. Arnold, who was very near, heard him whisper: “It is the will of God.” Holding her close, he began to speak: ‘I was a colonel in the Peruvian army. My sewora was an American. A govern- ment mission brought me here—into the Montana. Our little child—she was six > years old—was stolen from us. “Tt killed my senora. It made me a broken man. We thought it was the Chunchos. “Then there came to my ears strange rumors, foolish Indian whisperings, hints at impossible things. I began my search, that has never entirely ended until now, “‘ Journey after journey I made into the Montana, always searching. My money went. I began to grow old. Then you came, Sefior Jones, and J took new hope; for you wished to go far. “Can you wonder, senor, that I started when you spoke of an emerald one day at Chavin? It seemed to me to be a sign. Esmeralda is the Spanish for emerald. 485 “Do you wonder that I seemed beside myself on the night when you told me ‘of the white girl Nee-Nah, when I tell you that Nena was the name our little daughter al- ways called herself? Nena in Spanish means ‘baby,’ senor. It was one of the few Spanish words she knew; for at her mother’s knee she had learned the English. Is it strange that I was insane when I found how near to me had been the one for whom I had searched so many years? “You will ask me, perhaps, why I have kept silence. It is because I could not know what she would be when I found her. “‘T tell you,eSenor Arnold, that ours is a proud race. Had I found her other than she is, and as you have known her, neither she nor yonder man would now be standing alive in the sunlight.” He paused for breath, and pointed a quivering finger at Hualla. ‘“ But I find my daughter as a De Ulloa should be found—clean and honorable in the sight of God and man. And again I say, it is the will of God. “Senor Arnold, I will answer you. My daughter will not go back to the great Pai- titi. And—though I find her after all my years of searching only to lose her again—- she shall be your wife, if it is her will to be. For you are a man of honor, senor— and you love her greatly.” De Ulloa bowed and offered his hand to Arnold. “But you shall not lose her, Senor de loa!” cried Jim, seizing it. “If you won’t come to the States with us, by George! I'll settle in Peru, and go into part- nership with you in this emerald deal which . Bob Jones has wished on to you. Is that a go—er—er—confound it! What’s the © Spanish fog father-in-law, anyhow?” Nee-Nah straightened up suddenly and addressed Hualla in hissing Paititian. “Ts that true, Hualla?” she demanded. “Tt is true, thou who hast been my daughter in name, and whom I have loved even as my daughter. Thou art daughter to this man. From him we took thee when thou wert very small.” “I go not back to Paititi, Mualla.” She spoke with a finality which pre- cluded discussion; and there was more than Original fr ) STATE JN THE OH 0 NGOMMC SOCKS. COM