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PARADISE
ty tittups Q.'idoe ~~’
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%tritedhananggmert wtmVietwoRtan Havofeper Strvicahco.
M
itironn
- John -Hannon, wealtny ranch owner,
, hi* blind wife. Belle, and ^helr beautl
'• «... La_T7.1 Hire lianntlv tflPfithar
-■/
Pr
m
m,
i
ful daughter, Val, live happily together
In Hannon's wonderful ranch home,
Paradise. Redstar Is the king of the
Red Brood of * horses owned by the
master of the ranch.
Escorted hy the cowboys of Pardise
ranch, Val attends the Fourth of July
celebration at Santa Leandra. Valen
trie from the Boeder, while dancing
With Lola Sanchez, Is shot at by a Jeal
ous suitor. Val saves Velantrie s life
by causing the bullet to go wild.
During the celebration at Santa Le
andra the peerless Redstar disappears
from Paradise. Val Is heaarbroken and
rides for consolation to the Mission to
gee her friend, Father Hlllalre. She
finds Velantrie at the Mission visiting
with Father Hlllalre.
GO OH WITH THE STORY
The wistful look In the strangers
•yes deepened with a sort of swift
sickness and he picked up his hat.
<*rll go," he ■ said gently, but the
father shook his head.
“Stay until she leaves,” he said des
perately, ‘‘we've had little speech to
gether.’'
Not for an the poor treasure* oi
bumble house would Father Hlllalre
have toad Velantrle’s whistle Out the
quiet air, have seen The Comet oome
trotting down beneath the hanging
trees.
So Velantrle stood and watched while,
Val came and sat In one of the ancient
chairs and put the baby1 on her knee
"’ to play with Its rose-leaf fingers and
touch with understanding hands Its
little waxen cheeks.
"It’s a beautiful baby, padre,” she
said, wisely regarding* the Infant, “a
darling bundle of. sweetness. But 1
think with you that Marla Is not so
well. The cough persists.”
”1 know,” said the father anxiously,
"and I have tried all my remedies In
vain. She sickens for the sight of that
worthless one for whom she has never
ceased to mourn.”
"If I had hold of him." said Val. with
sudden swift viciousness, "I’d kill
him." .
"My daughter!” said the priest
sharply, and the girl blushed. But Ve
lantrie smiled .as he dropped into a
chair across the little open space of the
sanded walk.
"Suppose,” he said In the low voice
that was sweet with musla, "that some
one brought him back sealed, under
pain of death, to be good to Marla
and the cherub here? Would that
please you?"1
"More - than anything in all
world!’ cried Val Impulsively,
ceptr-^’
But she broke, the speech
glanced at Father Hlllalre.
“It would be a holy work," she fin
ished gently, "and I should be very
glad."
"Then,” said Velantrle, still smiling,
"It shall be done. Who is the man,
padre, and from where did he leave
this part of the country T”
“It is only a peon from down by Ar
guentja across the line by the name of
,■ Mesos Peouento, and he melted into
the west somewhere. , It is a heavy
this
"ex
ana
l? promise you make, my son.”
i "But one I shall be glad to re
deem,” answered Velantrle.
: V Val looked at him with deep eyes
; that were sweet with a new depth
'■ and a sort of wonder. This stranger
that she toad begun to meet. talked
quietly of big deeds and was quick
as running waters. She th<- ,ght of
his acceptance of Lolo’s chai, .nge that
night In Santa Lea:.dra and how
•' swiftly he had caught her meaning.
So she played With the baby and
listened to the quiet talk of the two
men and the summer day drowsed to
~ ward Its close, and the stranger Stayed
as If he did not mean to leave.
Bonifacio brought Lightning, and
Velantrle- looked .at him with keen
eyes. Always this -man looked at
horses. On the range'. In the streets
of the scattered towns, everywhere,
■ It was horseflesh for which he searched
untiringly. An expression of admira
' tlon passed across his speaking face.
"That Is a beautiful horse, Miss Han
> non," he said, "a swift horse, too, I
know."
Val smiled.
"The swiftest In the country," she
" said proudly, "better than Clenden
nlng’s Dollar. Better than all others,
except one.” •
?; At that slight reference to the lost
Red*tar her. features- ’clouded—and
Fattfer Hlllalre .felt - the sweat start
on his flesh.
But she eald no more and held out
- her hand. - I
"Goodby, ratner. ru come again.
■ 1 Boon.” .
Then she turned and, "with an ap
' pearance t of timidity that sat oddly
, £ an Val Hannon, held out the same hand
, ’ to Velantrle. Again the man Wok It
' and again dhe lather saw that un
• x v conscious eagerness In both young
/:'1V faces.
,f When the girl was gone, sailing like
a kite In the winds aoross the reaches
of the green plain, he wiped his face
r and the lines seemed to have been
graven a trifle deeper therein, as If he
felt a pressage of disaster.
CHAPTER X
Val Calls
j John Hannon stood in the deep room
where the Indian blankets glowed anfi,
held his wife In the bend of his arm.
His face was a strange mixture of con
flicting emotions. A veritable sickness
of parting sat upon It and his dark
eyes burned upon Belle's sightless face
with such a passion of love as rarely
lasts beyond the fires of youth.
He kissed her again and again and
studied the curve of her faded cheek,
the curls of soft hair at'her temples.
And Belle’s expert fingers Passed]
over his features, "reading" hfs face
before departure. When he was gone]
she would, drop In a chair and weep
like > a school girl, but she sped him
now like any Spartan.
“And again, John dear,” she asked
anxiously, “will you be back this time?
- Will It be as long a trip as the last
one?" >
The man raised his eagle’s head and
looked out through the window across
the plains. What visions he saw none
might know, but ' his eyes deepened
- and glowed and he’ smoothed her hair
absently.
Presently he came hack to the mo
* ment. '
"No,” he answered brusquely,, “not so
»• long this time."
Then be kissed ‘her again, motioned
to- Val to come and take, her, with an
imperious nod of his head, put her
’ . gently In the girl’s arms and was gone.
Paradise settled into a sort of pleas,
ant lethargy after the departure of
' the master. Belle Hannon was already
speaking of the time when her hus
band- should return, and Val spent
: many hours rocking lastly In the gay
m fringed vhammocks. She was her old
- self again in sweetness, in her eager
£gr« foe all the creatures of the house
Hold ana me rancu, u u»- « ***
her heart she did not cease to mourn
for the vanished Bedstar. Sometimes
at sundown she would cup her hands
to her lips and, giving the two keen,
long’-drawn whistled notes/listen wist
fully as if from somewhere in the far
I fringes of the Blind Trail Bills she
must each the fine faint echo of his
i ringing answer. ■
But always the vast alienee of the
illimitable land was .unbroken, and
Briston coming in from the dust and
drouth of a long day’s ride would look
at her pityingly. .
The days passed and the master had
been gone a fortnight when one day
Boyce Clendenning rode in on Dollar.
Val, seeing him from afar, met him
in the patio with smiles, all freshly
clad in a starched print dross. In hon
est fairness she must accord him re
spect. She did not dislike him. either,
when it oame down to cases, for Boyce
Clendenning wSs very much a man in
a land where men must be all of that
to prosper.
“Hello, Boyce,” she greeted him, lay
ing an admiring hand on Dollar’s silver
shoulder, “this is a tre^t^-you' coming
iso far to see us. Or were you going
by?”
“Hardly," said the man, sweeping
down to take oft his hat and extend
his hand, “I oame because I wanted
to.”
As Val led Clendenning into me
depths of the cool old room Belle Han
non rose with the manner of a duchess
and smiled toward the sound of their
approach- The man had heard of John
Hannon’s blind wife—who in the range
land had not?—but he had never seen
her. Now he looked at the delicate
beauty of her face. Its quick, receptive
Intelligence, Its high mark of characT
ter, and knew why her daughter was
as far above'the other girls of the
country as the clouds above the grass.
He took Belle’s hands, ioth of them,'
with a sudden pleasant liking which
communicated Itself Instantly to the
vibrant brain behind the hands, and
the two were friends at once.
"This is Boyce Clendenning. Belle,”
said Val, and the man felt a strange
surpirse at the girl’s use of her moth
er’s first name. He was to learn that
that was one of their playful Intima
cies which made the friendship of this
mother and daughter so rare and so
perfect.
"I know,” said Mrs. Hannon, "you
are the man John Hannon likes above
all others among the ranchers, there-,
fore you are good and worthy of re
gard. I shall like you, too.”
Clepdenning laughed, tossed his hat
away and sat down to a long and com
fortable visit.
But finally the conversation drifted,
as all speech must In the rangeland, to
cattle and finally to rustlers.
“I suppose you’ve heard that the
Plying T’s had trouble?" he asked
Idly.
"No,” said Val at once. “What?”
"Lost eighty head of faffsteers ready
for the driving."
"Good gracious! How?* ’
“Rustlers again. Drove them through
the Needle’s Bye into the Blind Trail.
Trail was broad as daylight up to the
face of the cliff, then of course it nar
rowed and was lost on the rock, for
the pass intb the hills is so narrow
that only two steers can enter at the
same time. The Owners trailed their
cattle there—to face two rifles sticking
out on either side of the pass, a per
fect guard. No man’s fool enough to
deliberately give his life for a bunch of
steers, so they went quietly, back to
the ranch. But the county's bussing,
you bet, and t'in with It heart and
soul.”
,Val*s dark eye flashed, for she
thought of her own loss, word of which
had been noised about the country.
Tm with you, too,” she said bit
terlyv "heart and soul. If the ranchers
ride on the rustlers’ trail I want to go
along. I’d like to kill tne man that
took the Redstar.” *
“It’s coming, sooner or later, that
ride," answered Clendenning. “It must
come, or we lay down our hands,
beaten- I’ve been talking to the Attl
son boys and Quinlan and they all fa
vor organization and short shrift, for
the victims we may catch with the
goods. It looks like the work of the
Black ^Rustler, that clever lifter whom
none meet and but few have ever
glimpsed—the smooth, silent chap Who
works like a machine, with neatness
and precision, and rides the fastest
horse' ever seen in these parts. There
are some wonderful stories afloat about
that horse—a great bay horse, tall and
high-withered, seventeen hands they
say, and so fast that those who have
caught a far glimpse of him say it
runs like a.super-horse.
As taixea vat Hannon s eyes dc
camewlde, dark pools of retrospection.
“My land!” she said softly, “I believe
I’ve seen that horse—from .the top of
Mesa Grande one day at sundown. I
had ridden the Redstar Up and was sit-'
tins on the rim, looking across the
ranges, when a band of men came out
of the north up Santa.Lendra way. and
one did ride a wonderful horse—a long
red horse that lay down and ran for all
the WorM like Redstar himself! And j
the ri3Sr rose In his stirrups and
waved (his hat to me!”
"Dii he wear a black mask?” asked
Clendennlng, quickly.
“Why, I couldn’t say. He was far
and away too far off for me to see his
face. I only/got the genera loutllne
and color—and that mighty seeming,
of speed.”
.“It might have been. There is a
Whisper about that he has been in
Santa Leandra several times, but no
body cares to question the Black Rust
ler.”
An hour later he took his leave and
the two women sped him from the
patio where the sweet spring talked in
the stillness.
“Val,” said Belle Hannon, quietly,
Tm with your dad, I favor Boyce
Clendennlng. He Is honest, straight
and of (fixed purpose. If he sets out
to catch the Black Rustler, he’ll get
him sooner or later. If he promises
to love, cherish and protect a woman,
he’ll do so till he dies.”
And. she did not know. with what
utter prophecy she spoke. -
Val laughed, a ringing peal,; and
Shook her shoulder playfully.
“John. Hannon .had better be get
ting back,” she said lightly, "or his
wife’ll be falling in.,love with his best
friend."
The riders were doming in with rat
tle of spur and bit chain, the red veils
were beginning to sift down from the
blue infinitude above; and tihe long
twilight would soon be falling over
Paradise.
Val, standing alone In the patio after
Belle had gone indoors, looked down
across the empty fields, for the Red
Brood grazed no more without a guard,
and a sigh lifted her elim breast. * ■.'
CHAPTER XI ~ -*'■
The Lure of ti e Padre’s Garden
There was a time after Clendennlna’s
visit -when ' nothing- happenedv.to stir
tie quiet life at the ranch. Val talked
with the riders about the trouble at the
Fying Y and Briston had little to say.
In fact there was an unostentatious
reticence in their speech about, the
whole affair. She did not. kn9w that
every man-jack of . them hadlbeen filled
with ai vague dismay over the incident
of (the dance hall at Santa Leandra,
nor^that they had listened to faint
whispers concerning: the armed strang
ers. .
"Holy smoke!" said Perly the lo^
quacious, ,"it that there Velantrie was
th’ Black Rusier an’ our Val saved his
fotten hide', her name’ll be all over
•this country- an’ I see where this
bunch’ll do a lot of flghtln’.v l. ’ \
John Hannon did-not return as soon
as they had expected him, and time
dragged a little. Val rode to the Mis
sion many times, but never again did
she encounter a tall stranger In . the
dry garden, and though she drew the
talk artlessly to this stranger a time
or two. Father Rllliare was non-com
municative and she learned no more
about him.
She helped the boys with the break
ing of the new string of horses, for
John Hannon’s daughter was better
than a lot of men at that, and her
dusky skin burned a tawnier shade in
the sun, while her cheeks were like
roses in the sunset.
The boss had been gone five weeks.
August was blazing on the range
land. The heavens were high and hard
with heat and the sun shone continu
ally, Rut always at dusk 'there came
out of ihe south the little cool.wind
that whispered along the levels, and
the marvelous colors sifted down from
infinitude. ■
And then one day, Val, riding aim
lessly far down Arroyo Pecos way,
came up from the cool shade of the
ford on Little Antelope, and face to
face with two men—Velantrie on a big
white horse and a slim dark Mexican
with a sullen face.
Instantly Velantrie's face lighted
with the smile she had not forgotten,
and his broad hat came off with a
graceful !sweep.
"Miss Hannon!” he cried, and It was
well for Father Millaire’s peace of mind
that he could not see the look of sud
den joy that flashed between them.
“Mr. Velantrie!” mimicked the girl
with a laugh, “it’s been long since we
met in the padre’s garden.”
"Has it?” said the man eagerly and
simply, and Val blushed.
“Hasn't it?” she asked honestly.
"Lord—yes,” said Velantrle, softly.
For a moment they were -silent, look
ing at each other with the -age-old
wonder that comes once in every life.
Then the man ' thought quickly and
sharply of the- Church door—and the
woman—and became on the instant the
indifferent, smiling stranger.
Val saw the change and became
grave herself.
Velantrle turned to the rider beside
him, a slim, good-looking youth, scarce
more than a boy, and waved an elo
quent hand.
"Let me present Senor Mesos Peceu
ento,” he said gently, “of down Argu
enta way, bound for the Mission to
work for Father Mllliare and, inci
dentally, for wedlock in the chapel.”
Val Hannon blushed again, but the
look she flashed Velantrle was elo
quent of gratitude and gladness and
admiration for so successful a quest.
They spoke for a few moments more,
but the spontaneity, was gone from
their meeting, and presently the
strangers rode into the Antelope to
emerge to the sightof the distant Mis
sion gleaming palely in the light, whll#
Val Hannon touched Redcloud -Jtnd
went on toward the, sl)uth.
Velantrle, strong oh the bit of his’
own desires, went straight to his des
tination. - v
“I think, padre,” he said, “that I
shall come but little .more to this
country. Ferhaps no more."
The old man looked at him keenly.
■"Why?" he asked simply.
"Because it-is not well that ^should.”
Father Millaire sighed.
"No," he said sadly, “it is not well.”
"This white’s a good horse,” Velan
trle said, “but I miss The Comet—
laid up with a sprained tendon.”
He rode straight back the way he
had come and he was deep in thought
as he neared the fringes of the Little
Antelope. Thought that concerned Val
Hannon. Valentrie had known many
women, but none of them had come
into his life for more than a fleeting
touch. He was, as he had told Father
Hlllaire, a man who mastered himself.
He had ridden away from much that a
weaker man would have stayed for.
Therefore he struck the big white
horse with a heel and rode through
>he sliallow water—and there, com
ing slowly along, slouched gracefully
in her saddle, as if she idled on a way
she was used to making at speed, was
the girl herself. Val Hannon for the
first time to <her UtW deliberately wait
ink to cross trails with * than, and as
unconscious of the fact as,, any child!
At the fringe of the’ little stream
they met face to face again, and the
shadow of the poplars played over
their young faces where the eager
light leaped- helplessly. - • * ■
They drew up by .common, consent
and sat still for a moment smiling at
each /Other like two children—Val, the
pride Of Paradise, and Velantrie, “some
time of the Border!”
"I wapt to thank you,” said the girl
simply at lasty *you have brought life
to Maria, I know.”
“And. pleasure to myself,” answered
the man, "for it has given me great
pleasure to ,do your will. Itels a gen
tle-will and kindly.”
“Father Hfflai’re, too, will be full Of
Joy over the erring sheep brought back
to his fold, for he had grieved with
and over Maria 'a. deal. Where did you
find MesosT”
“Not far from his native heath. He
was hiding among .the jacals. -It was
no great thing to find Him.”
"But how did you make him come?"
asked the girl wonderingly.
i Velantrie smiled.
! He did not tell her that among the
poor Mexifcans across t}ie line the name
of Velantrie was magic, that in mP.y
j an humble hut it bore a sound of>“cte
liv.erer,” that it carried, hope as well
as fear, and that its owner had merely
to speak and his words, ‘running afar
I among the peons,/were like rlatas
{ creeping on the ground to bring back
the thing they Sought.
Continued Nhyt Sunday.)
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