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And the three first" Lennon had thought them sacks of corn at the foot of the ladder "seven, and Pete with us leaves less 'n twenty of 'em, counting Cochise. And mebbe Carmena has potted one or two more out in the scrub." "You'll attack?" asked Lennon. "Sure. No chance of holding Cochise after him losing them men. The others would turn on him like mad coyotes if he backed up.
She was long past that; and she felt for the moment lifted out of herself by the sweet, sudden sympathy of this stranger, this girl like herself, yet so different, so wonderful, so beautiful, Carmena was sure she must be. Had the saints sent her from heaven to Alessandro? What did it mean?
"I ain't paralyzed. Needn't think you can con me." "Wait your face!" warned the girl. "It looked queer. Try smiling." "No, it's all right now," said Lennon. "Sometimes these first strokes of apoplexy paralyze only for a few moments." Carmena changed her look of sympathy to one of sharp reproof. "I don't think it's that at all. You've just been working on our sympathies, Mr. Slade. Own up now.
It was Antonio, Antonio, who had been at the Moreno sheep-shearing; Antonio, who knew even more than Carmena had known, for he knew what a marvel and miracle it seemed that the beautiful Senorita from the Moreno house should have loved Alessandro, and wedded him; and he knew that on the night she went away with him, Alessandro had lured out of the corral a beautiful horse for her to ride.
"The Hole we'll find help there?" queried Lennon. "Slade is away. But I figure we'll be safe enough, once we get in. There's Dad and my sister." "If they are at all like you, Carmena!" The girl paused on a ledge to gaze down at him with a somber, clouded look that brightened into a tender smile. "Elsie is as much like me as a lily is like a cactus. No thorns about her.
The crane swung around into the entrance with the saddle and rifles. Carmena had already faced about to haul the ladder up the cliff. Lennon caught hold with his left hand to help her. They had gathered in less than ten yards when a bullet whizzed between their heads and splattered on the stone wall at the rear of the room.
Such cases are not unknown," comforted Lennon. He turned to Elsie. "Listen, dear. I found your papa and mamma and buried them. Now I have killed the bad Indian. But you have been sick out of your head a long time. This lady Carmena has taken care of you and she loves you." The child-minded girl peered up at her foster-sister. "You you love me? But I know it. You look at me like mamma does."
Carmena had risen to a sitting position with her arms outstretched toward Elsie. Her face was white from pain, and she was swaying but she was sitting upright. Realization of what that meant burst upon Lennon like a flood of golden sunshine. He dropped on his knees to fling a supporting arm about the girl's shoulders. "Dearest, it's not true not true that you Your back! You're able to rise!"
It is Carmena, I am sure. That was the corner where they buried Jose. I will speak to her;" and leaving Ramona at the gate, he went slowly on, saying in a low voice, in the Luiseno language, "Carmena, is that you? Have no fear. It is I, Alessandro!" It was Carmena.
Carmena handed a key to Cochise and stood shielding the flickering flame of the candle. "Maybe we'll find both together," she said. "It would have been just like Slade to lock your woman in with the tizwin." She added a guttural murmur in Apache. The Indians pushed forward as their leader snapped open the padlock. The heavy door swung open.
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