The Argosy, Vol. 76, No. 3 — page 54: what you’re looking at

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

524 ““No!” said the half-breed, and cowered with his good arm doubled be- fore his face. The excitement, the frenzy, went out of the girl in an instant. Her arm fell at her side and her body, seemingly spent.by that gust of passion, drooped limply forward. “Mr. Bremerton,” she murmured sadly, “some day you will be sorry for all your suspicions; some day, if I can bear this long enough to make it clear to you. If that amalgam was stolen from the Mariquita mill and brought here, it was done for a purpose. “That purpose was to bring nearer the jail with which you so gallantly threatened me that night by the town canal. “This home,” she waved her hand about her, “is my home and my fath- er’s—a mud hovel—the only place we can call our own, We should have bet- ter—some day we will have better, if we get justice and can live and fight till it comes. Do what you can, Mr. Brem- erton,” she said scornfully, “to cheat us out of our rights, but never again take the word of a half-breed thief against Mariquita Mallory.” A dead silence ensued when the girl had finished. Ransom was dum- founded, Bremerton amazed, and O’Hara humble and apologetic. It was the Irishman who first ventured to speak. - “Miss Mallory, what you say goes to the heart of all of us. But, believe me, you have not the right of it. When the half-breed said what he did, I gave him the lie. And Bremerton—sure, you don’t know the heart of him yet. Some day, as you said, you’ll come into your rights, and on that day you'll know Lee Bremerton as I know him.” A: smile played about the girl’s full lips. rc You are Irish? ” she asked. “ All but the brogue,” he laughed. ‘“My father is Irish and my mother was Mexican?” “And you think I didn’t guess? Faith, your name was enough to tell me that.”’ THE ARGOSY. “You are a friend of Mr. Bremer- ton’s?”’ | “Friend? That doesn’t tell the half of it. He saved me in the desert, and for two years we thirsted and starved together. Such a life does not make for friends, do you mind, but for brothers.” “Then show Mr. Bremerton how wrong he is in his dealings with the Mallorys. That is the greatest kind- ness you can ever do him—and me!” She pulled away her glove and reached out her right hand. O’Hara accepted it with a knightly courtesy. “Trust me for that,’ he answered. Mariquita once more faced the sheriff. “Take that amalgam away with you,” said she. “ You will find ore- sacks in the barn.” With that, she left him, returned to her horse and led the animal toward the corral. They watched her until she had passed from sight. ' “ So that’s old Mallory’s girl!” mur- mured Ransom, in a bewildered tone. ‘“ Hanged if I ever knew she had such a temper.” “Temper? ” “Not a bit of it. high, and nothing else.” “She ought to be on the stage,” growled Bremerton; “ she’d make a hit as an emotional actress. But let’s side- track the heroics and get away. Give me the lantern, O’ Hara.” O’Hara gave him the light without a word, and he went into the adobe barn to get the ore-sacks. countered O’Hara. CHAPTER XV. THE TEST. In due course, Dutch Fred bought, brought out from town and duly deliv- ered to Smear Case one dozen bags of smoking tobacco. “ T make no holler,” said Fred, “ but I don’t got a fair shake.” “ Whyever didn’t you?” inquired Case. It’s spirit, fine and COMicdoo S CO@