The Argosy, Vol. 76, No. 3 — page 62: what you’re looking at

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

632 whether your friend could persuade you—to answer that note in person.” “T didn’t need O’Hara’s persua- sions,’ he broke in grimly, “for I should have come, anyway. I wanted to test you—to find out whether a move would be made against me, as it had been made against Lacey in the same situation.” ‘So ”—bitterly—“ when that shot was fired at the fork in the trail you considered the case against me proven!” “JT had no time to consider any- thing. The saddle turned and I dropped in the road. But never mind that, Miss Mallory. Go on.” “T had been watching the gang as well as I could, and I knew they were watching you, and only waiting for a chance to catch you off your guard. Since you sent Big Steve and Chombq to prison your skulking foes have been hot for reprisal. “They realized that I was trying to help you, and they would have black- ened my motives in your eyes if they could. Chombo tried it that night you found the amalgam. The stuff was hidden in that place so that, if dis- covered, you could not but think ill of the Mallorys.”’ Her voice caught in her throat, and her quick. breathing there in the under- ground quiet smote on his ears. “JT was anxious about you, Mr. Bremerton,” she resumed, steadying herself, “ for I realized only too well what you would think if anything went wrong on your way to the cafion. I rode to the swale by a roundabout course and was waiting for you to come. I saw what happened. “As your horse charged past me, dragging you by a stirrup, I turned my own horse and followed. The thing I did not expect, but feared in my heart, had come to pass. If you had been killed, your friend O’Hara would have blamed me; but if I could do something to save you, then you and O’Hara would be compelled to be- lieve in me. That is why I stopped THE ARGOSY. your horse, and that is why I made the sacrifice in bringing you here.” “You wrong O’Hara. Nothing could make him suspect you of treach- ery. He hasn’t the same responsibility at the mine that I have,” Bremerton added dryly. “It wasn’t my life par- ticularly but your own good name that concerned you.” = “Don’t think that! Deane has robbed us, and all we hoped was to effect some settlement with*him on the score of his lost vein. But he has no heart, no conscience. The more he was harrassed, and the harder the work at the mine was made for him, the nearer he might be forced to a com- promise with us. But the slaying, the shooting, the robbing—oh, in the name of justice, do not connect my father and me with that!” “Who has done it all?” “Others. I don’t know who they are, and I don’t know the motives back of it, for they work in the dark. If you could discover who is paying the relatives of Big Steve and Chombo a pension, you would get a clue that might help unravel the mystery. We'll not go into that now. My father and I are not to be identified with those wretches. You are to make sure of that, once and for all. “My father knew you were com- ing to Phoenix. We went to town as soon as we heard, and he followed you about and took the first opportunity to warn you. No work was going on at the Mariquita Mine; and I think —I cannot be_ positive—that there were some from there concerned in that attack on you by the town canal.” Remembering the ball of amalgam, and how it had ultimately led to the unmasking of Big Steve, Bremerton made no doubt that the girl was right. The conclusion was interesting, but led to no substantial results. “My father, after he left you that night in Phoenix,” the girl pursued, “heard the rush of men among the cottonwoods. Oh, the God’s pity that the attack should have happened then, COMicdoo S CO@