Jasper County Democrat, Volume 12, Number 9, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 May 1909 — The Round-Up [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

The Round-Up

A Romance of Arizona Novelized Prom Edmund Day’s Melodrama

SYNOPSIS. Chapter I— Returning with gold from the mines to an Arizona ranch to claim Echo Allen, his promised bride, Dick Lane is attacked by Apaches led by Buck McKee, a renegade. After spending six months in a hospital Lane writes to his friend Jack Payson, owner of the Sweetwater ranch, to tell Echo he is coming home. He tells Payson he has $3,000 to pay a mortgage placed by Jack on his ranch to help him. ll—Colonel Jim Allen, owner of the Bar, One ranch, is father of Echo and father by adoption of Polly Hope, Dick and Bud Lane. Polly and Bud are sweethearts. In Dick's absence Echo falls in love with Jack, realizing that her love for Dick was merely friendship. Dick is believed to be dead, owing to the return of McKee with a lying story. Bud , “chums” with McKee despite the warnings of Slim Hoover, the fat and popular sheriff. Echo and Jack become engaged. 111. Echo declares to Jacls after the latter suppresses Dick’s letter, fearing to lose her, that she will be true to her promise to Dick if he returns. Bud quarrels with Jack about Echo, the boy championing his absent brother's cause. IV—Aided by Bud, McKee murders Terrill, the station agent, stealing from him $3,000 of county money. McKee suggests to Bud that Dick may still be living. V—The boys gather at the Allen* ranch for the wedding of Echo and Jack. VI and VII —McKee plans to to throw suspicion of Terrill’s murder on Jack, and he and Bud go to 'Jie Allens’ for the wedding. Mckee /aises a disturbance and is put out. VIII— All ready for the wedding. IX — Dick turns up at the Allens’ just as his sweetheart is married to Jack. Only Allen and Jack see him. Jack is tempted to shoot his friend, who pays the $3,000 to him and returns to the desert. X—The cowpunchers send for a piano as a surprise tor Echo, now married to Jack. XI Jack keeps his business affairs secret from his wife, not daring to tell her where he got the $3,000 to pay the mortgage. Polly flirts with Slim, although she loves bud The boys give the piano to Echo. Buck McKee comes to Payson’s at the head of his followers, the Lazy K outfit, to accuse Payson of killing Terrill. XII—-Buck accuses Jack, and the young man refuses to clear himself by telling where he got the money. Slim puts McKee and his men off the Payson place. Jack confesses to his wife his deception to her regarding Dick, and she sends him to the desert to find Dick and bring him back to hear from her own lips that she believed him dead when she promised to marry Jack. Forgetting he is under suspicion of killing Terrill, Jack goes. Echo tries to call him back, but is prevented by Bud. Slim, as sheriff, pursues Jack. XIII—In the desert are Dick, sought by Jack, the latter pursued by Slim and a posse, and a band of Apaches hunted by a troop of soldiers.

CHAPTER XIV. FALSE dawn in the lava beds of Arizona. The first faint tinge on the eastern horizon fades, and the stars shine the more brilliantly in the brief, darkest hour before the true daybreak. An icy wind sweeps down canyons and over mesas, stinging the marrow of the wayfarer’s bones. In the heavens the innumerable stars burn Steadily in crystal coldness. Shadows He in stygian blackness at foot of rock and valley. Soft and clear the lights of night swathe the uplands. An awesome silence hangs over the desert. Hushed and humbled by the immensity of space, one expects to hear the rush of worlds through the universe. At times the bosom swells with a wild desire to sing and shout in the glory of pure living. The "day comes quickly. The sun. leaping over the edge of the world, floods mesa and canyon, burning, with ering, sparing no living thing, lavishing reds and purples, blues and violets, upon canyon walls and wind sculptured rocks. But a remorseful glare, blinding, sight destroying, 1: thrown back from the sand and all-n'.i of the desert. Shriveled sagebrush and shrunken cactus bravely fight for life, A narrow pathway leads from the mesa down the canyon’s wall, twistinc and doubling on itself to Apacb.e spring. The trail then moves southward between towering cliffs, a lane through which is caught a far distant glimpse of the mountains. Little whirlwinds of dust spring up ever and anon, twirling wildly across, the sandv wastes. The air suffocates like the breath of a furnace. Ever the pitiless sun searches and scorches, as conscience sears and stings a stricken soul.

Down the narrow trail, past the spring, ride in single file the Apaches slowly on tired horses, for the pursuing soldiers have given them no halting space. Naked save for a breechclout, with a narrow red band of dyed buckskin about his forehead, in which sticks & feather, each rides silent, grim, cruel, a hideous human reptile, as native to the desert as is the Gila monster. The horse is saddleless. For a bridle the warrior usee a piece of grass rope twisted about the pony's lower jaw. His teg* droop laxly by the horse’s sides. In his right hand be grasps hJs rifle, resting the butt on the

By JOHN MURRAY and MILLS MILLER

Knee. The only sound to break the stillness of the day is the rattle of stones slipping and sliding down the pathway when loosened by the hooft of the ponies. Creeping down the canyon wall, they cross the bottom, pass the spring and ■disappear at a turn in the canyon walls. Nature and Indian meet and merge in a world of torture and despair. Dick had fared badly in the lava beds. One spring after the other he found dry. His horse fell from exhaustion and thirst. He ended the sufferings of his pack mule with a revolver bullet. Dick staggered on afoot across the desert, hoping to find water at Apache spring. His blue shirt was torn ar 1 faded to a dingy purple. Hat and shoulders were gray with alkali dust. Contact with the rocks and cactus had rent trousers and leggings. His shoes, cut by sharply pointed stones and with thread rotted by the dust of the deserts, were worn to shreds. Unshaven and unshorn, with sunken cheeks and eyes bright with the delirium of thirst, he dragged his weary way across the desert. Ho reached Apache spring shortly after the passage of the Indians. bqt his craving for water was so great that he did not observe their .trail. Reeling toward the spring, he cast aside*his hat and flung down his rifle in his eagerness to drink. Throwing himself on his face before the hollow in the rock from which the water trickled, he first saw that the waters had dried up. With his bony fingers he dug into the dry sand, crying aloud in despair. Stiffly he arose and blundered blindly to a rock, upon which he sank in his weakness. “Another day like this and 1’1! give up the fight,” be moaned. “Apache spring dry, the first time in years; Little Squaw spring nothing but dust and alkali. It is twenty miles to Clearwater spring—twenty—miles—if I can make it” Dick trembled with weakness. His swollen tongue clove to the roof of his mouth. His lips were cracked and blackened. Bits of foam flickered about the corners of his mouth. The glare blinded his eyes, W’hich were half closed. At times fever waves swept over him; again he shuddered with cold. Sounds of falling waters filled his ears. The sighing of the wind through the canyon walls suggested the trickling of fountains. Rivers flowed before his eyes through green meadows only to fade into the desert as he gazed. “What a land—what a land! It is the abode of the god of thirst! He tempts men into his valley with the lure of gold and saps the lifeblood from their bodies drop by drop. Drop by drop 1 hear it falling. No—it is water I hear! There it is! How cool it looks!” Dick rose and staggered toward the cliff. In his delirium of thirst he saw streams of w’ater gush down the mountain side. Holding out his arms, he cried, “Saved, saved!” His hands fell limply by his sides as the illusion faded. He then doubled them into fists and shook them at the cliff in a last defiance of despair. “You shan’t drive me mad!” He seized his empty canteen, pressing it to his lips. “No; 1 drained that two days ago, or was it three?” he whispered in panic as he threw it aside. Picking up his gun, he falterlngly attempted the ascent. “I won't give up— I won't!” he shouted huskily. “I’ve fought the desert before and conquered. I’ll conquer again—l'll” His will power ebbed with his failing strength. Blindness fell upon him. Oblivion swept over him. He sank, dying of thirst, In the sands of the desert. As the buzzards find the dead, so an Apache crept upon Dick as he lay prostrate. Rut as the Indian aimed he heard footsteps from a draw’. He saw’ a man approaching the spring. Silently he fled behind the rocks. It was Jack. He had entered the lava beds from the east, closely following the man for whom be had searched for so many weary months. Others of the Apaches had marked him already. Knowing he would go to the spring, they waited warily to learu If he were alone. The band had scattered to surround him at the water hole.

Jack’s horse and burro, which he had left at the head of the canyon, were already in the Indians* possession. With him he carried his rifle and a revolver. A canteen of water was slung over his shoulder. The desert had placed its stamp upon him, turning bis clothes gray. The tan of his face was deepened. Lines about his eyes and mouth showed how much he had suffered physically and mentally in his search for the man he believed was bls successful rival in love. Reaching the spring, he looked about Cautiously before he laid down hte rifle. He tugged at the butt of his revolver to make certain that it could be pulled quickly from the holster. Taking off bls hat, he knelt to drink. He smiled and confidently tapped his canteen when he found the spring dry. He was raising his canteen to his line when he spied Dick’s body.

Jumping behind a rock, he polled his revolver, covering the insensible man. It might be a trap. He scanned the trail, the cliff, the canyon. Hearing and seeing nothing, he slipped his revolver into his holster and hurried to Dick’s side. At first he did not recognize him. The desert and thirst had wrought many changes in his friend’s face. When recognition came he threw his arms about the prostrate form, crying, “Dick, nt last, at last!” His voice was broken with emotion. The search had been so long, so weary and the ending so sudden! He had

found Dick, but it looked as If he came too late. Gathering Dick up In hls arms, he raised him until hls head rested on hls knees. Forcing open his mouth, he poured a little water clown his throat Then with a moistened handkerchief he wetted temples and wrists. Slowly Dick struggled back to life. “Water—water—it’s water!” he gasped, struggling for more of the precious fluid. “Easy,” cautioned Jack. “Only a little now—more when you’re stronger.” “Who Is it?” cried Dick. Not waiting for Jack to enlighten him, he continued: “No matter—you came In time. I couldn't have held out any longer. All the springs are dry. I figured on reaching Clearwater.” Jack helped Dick to his feet. Taking his stricken friend’s right arm, he

He poured a little water down his throat. drew it across his shoulders. With his left arm about his waist, Jack led him to a seat upon a convenient rock. “I came by Clearwater yesterday,” explained Jack. “It is nothing but mud and alkali.” “My horse dropped three days ago. I had to shoot the pack mule. I” Dick opened bls eyes under the ministrations of Jack. Gazing upward into bls face, he shouted joyfully: “Why, It’s Jack—Jack Payson!” “Didn’t,you know me, Dick?” asked Jack sympathetically. “Not at first. My eyes went to the bad out yonder in the glare.” The effort had been too much for Dick, He sank weakly over Jack s knees. Jack turned him partly on his back and let more water trickle down his throat Dick clutched madly at the canteen, but Jack drew it back out of his reach. With his handkerchief he moistened lips and neck. When Dick’s strength returned Jackhelped him to sit up. “I’ve been hunting for you for months.” be told him. “Hunting for me?” echoed Dick. “Yes,” answered Jack. “I traced you through the Lost Cities, then to Cooney, then up in the Tularosas. At Fort Grant they put me on the right trail.” As the clouds break, revealing the blue of the heavens, so Dick’s memory came back to him. He shrank from the man at his side. “Well?” he asked as he stared at bls betrayer: Jack gazed fixedly ahead. He dared pot look into the face of him he had wronged so bitterly.

“She wants you.” he said In a voice void of all emotion. “Who wants me?” asked Dick after a pause. “Echo.” “Your wife?” gritted Dick. He fingered his gun as he spoke. Huskily Jack replied, “Yes.” Bitter thoughts filled the mind of one; the other had schooled himself to make atonement. For the wrong he had done Jack was ready to offer his life. He had endured the full measure of his sufferings. The hour of his delivery was at hand. Hard as it was to die in the mid-glory of manhood, it was easier to end it all here and now than to live unloved by Echo, hated by Dick, despised by himself. “She sent me to find you. ‘Bring him back to me.’ That’s what she said,” Jack cried in his agony. “Your wife—she said that?” faltered Dick. Fiercely In his torture Jack answered: “Yes, my wife-my wife said It. ‘Bring him back to me.’ ” “Back?” Dick paused. “Back to what?” he asked himself. “She’s your wife, Isn’t she?” he demanded. “That's what the law says,” answered Jack. With the thought of the evening In the garden when he heard Jack and Echo pronounced man and wife surging over him Dick murmured, “What God hath joined together let no man put asunder.” “That’s what the book says,” answered Jack, “But when hands alone are joined and hearts are asunder It tan’t go on record as the work of God.” Dick bowed his head In bls bands. “I don’t understand.” Stubbornly Jack pursued his message to Dick. “She doesn’t love me. I thought I had won her, but she married me with your Image In her heart. She married me, yet all the while you were the man she loved—you—you—and In the end I found it out.” Jack’s voice sank almost Into a whisper as he finished hls revelation to Dick, who raised hls head and cried, “And yet she broke her faith with me” — 4To be Continued)