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He grunted to the other Navaho and swung the crane outward as the tightening rope lifted the girl above the sacks of corn. She disappeared from view below the barrier. The Navaho lowered away with a deliberation that set Lennon's teeth on edge. The strain on his nerves was not lessened by the total silence of the waiting Apaches down below. At last the rope slackened.
Like the hand, her wrist was white and well rounded. She drew off her old sombrero. Lennon's gaze lifted to the wealth of dark hair that lay coiled about her shapely head. The girl was neither pretty nor beautiful, yet there was a certain handsomeness about her strong features. Out of the tail of his eye Lennon caught a glimpse of a black and orange blur streaking toward them over the hot sand.
Carmena flung herself upon her knees and caught up his torn hand to her red lips. She sucked hard at the wounds With the suddenness of a dropped veil, the hot, white glare of the desert noon went black before Lennon's eyes. He sank down upon the sand, unconscious.
Carmena shook her head and pointed to Lennon. "Let him lead the way up unarmed," she suggested. The advantage of the plan was instantly grasped by the crafty Apache. At his command, two of his men cut loose Lennon's bonds and jerked him to his feet. "Wait, Carmena! Wait!" begged Lennon. "Think of Elsie!" But the girl had already signalled to those above.
Though the old Navaho found a rather shorter way out through the jumble maze of the bad lands, Lennon's mouth and throat were dust dry and his tongue swollen before the party reached the trail. The thirst torture continued until the arrival at the pueblo. There Slade at last gave drink to his prisoner and disclosed his purpose, with a pretense of indignation.
An instant later he was locked in the clutch of the yelling, slashing Apache. As they crashed down together in a furious death grapple, a second Apache came scrambling in over the cliff edge. Side by side with him appeared Cochise, the print of Lennon's boot-heel already blackening on his ferociously scowling forehead. Pete's rifle had fallen outward into the doorway, alongside the sack of corn.
"I told you distinctly my search was for a copper mine. The gold lode was your own fancy. You will now apologize for that term you used." Had one of his Navahos made the demand, Slade could not have been more amazed. He gaped, dumbfounded. Then his rage burst out again with redoubled fury. But the sight of Lennon's revolver muzzle put an abrupt end to his violent curses.
They lock their jaws, and the poison But I've seen a man snap the head off one of those big snakes. Let's see if you have the nerve to toss this little lizard outside." Lennon's smile faded as he perceived that the girl was in sober earnest. Very naturally he hesitated.
Carmena led the way out into an oval cliff-walled valley, two or three miles long and half as broad. First to strike Lennon's desert-starved eyes was the vivid grateful verdure of irrigated cornfields. Beyond, in browning hay meadows, grazed a herd of cattle and twenty or thirty head of horses.
Carmena uttered a horrified cry and sought to struggle up on her bound feet. As she fell, Pete and the other Navaho caught hold of her. They carried her out into the anteroom, without paying the slightest heed to Lennon's threats and pleadings. He writhed and twisted himself toward the doorway. Before he had reached the opening, the wounded Navaho bounded back into the room.
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