United States or French Guiana ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Some were heading down, and others up the valley to cut off her escape; the majority were coming straight for the clumps of trees. Fresno burst out of cover mounted on Sandy's bay horse. He began to shoot. And the Indians fired in reply. All along the slopes rose white puffs of smoke, and bullets clipped dust from the ground in front of Allie. Fresno drew ahead. The bay horse was swift.
The clerk lifted his brows. "So 'Allie'! Has it gone as far as that, Del?" "Oh, you know how it is! A lesson every day, soft music, arm around the waist, a kind word. The girl is human. I'm probably different to anything that ever came into her young life. Look at my wardrobe! She's not so bad to take, either, and yet " The immaculate speaker frowned.
The little room seemed a refuge for Allie, yet it was oppressive, as had been the atmosphere of the parlor where Ancliffe lay. But this oppressiveness was not death. Allie had become familiar with death near at hand. This refuge made her flesh creep. The room was not the home of any one it was not inhabited, it was not livable.
This new revelation was quite to his liking, and his astonishment gave place to interest and then to delight, as Allie gradually outstripped her brother, and came flying up the steps far in advance of him, with a triumphant shout of laughter, just as her cousin appeared in the open doorway, loudly applauding her victory. Early that evening Allie and her cousin were alone in the parlor, for Mrs.
"No, you won't take her to Neale!" cried Stanton. The cowboy stepped down slowly, guardedly, but he kept on. Allie saw men run out of the crowded dance-hall into the open space behind Stanton. Dark, hateful, well-remembered faces of Fresno Mull Black! Allie pressed the cowboy's arm to warn him, and he, letting go of her, appeared to motion her behind him. "Stanton!
"By Jove!" exclaimed Ancliffe. "Well, I'll block Durade's gang. Will you save the girl?" "Assuredly," answered the imperturbable Englishman. "Where shall I take her?" "Where CAN she be safe? The troop camp? No, too far, ... Aha! take her to Stanton. Tell Stanton the truth. Stanton will hide her. Then find Neale and King." Hough turned to Allie.
Lass, it's yours an' I'm goin' to make you keep it." "How much is there?" queried Allie, with thrills of curiosity. How well she remembered Horn! He had told her he had no relatives. Indeed, the gold was hers. "Wal, Neale an' me couldn't calkilate how much, hevin' nothin' to weigh the gold. But it's a fortune." Allie turned from the pack to the earnest face of the trapper.
A woman of fair face, bare of arm and neck, glittering with diamonds, swept into the parlor. She had great, dark-blue eyes full of shadows and they flashed from Ancliffe to Allie and back again. "What's happened? You're pale as death! ... Ancliffe! Your hands your breast! ... My God!" She bent over him. "Stanton, I've been cut up and Hough is dead." "Oh, this horrible Benton!" cried the woman.
And I suppose Lady Allie sat up until all hours of the night, over at Casa Grande, consoling my Diddums and talking things over. It gives me a sort of bruised feeling, for I've nobody but Whinstane Sandy to unbosom my soul to.... Iroquois Annie has flown the coop. She has gone for good.
It was a cool, cloudy day; the mist lay low over the mountain sides, and closed in between the walls of the cañon, and the wind blew up fresh and sharp. Allie had watched the little group of riders as they cantered past the house and, turning the corner, stopped at the Everetts'. Then she was seized with a sudden inspiration.
Word Of The Day