HOW LOVE BROKE THE GANG.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVII, Issue 72, 24 March 1906, Page 13

HOW LOVE BROKE THE GANG.

■ FINE old Mexican mansion < I- stands out sharp against Raven WM Ridge, where the wild Texan / I hflfe roll up out of the desert I 1 and down into the Rio,Grande. , hi Sherman bought it, with the hun- j " fof acres pertaining to it, when he "-driven from New England by a; Station of UOUDles. It lengthened Jgije a, little, but he was coming to 'util her mother died, Mona Ms only ' J tves much away at school. Since ; 2 she had been his constant com-: ■~t- It was rather brave of her, too, Srithstanding the second command3 t for a lonelier spot there isn t any*|U The nearest thing oi social ten- j *_es was the fort, four miles away, j Slather was too ill for guests, and ) 5 only People about the place were' ukcan servants and farm-hands, ex-1 TZetto. a young Spaniard, who eviftly to some better sphere 3 j or r reasons of his own had hired : 2-elf to Judge Sherman as a kind of ?eral manager. He held the position , _ dismay- aaJ matie a better su" 2 lit than the Judge before he broke L_ He was her only possible" comjfcion, aad Mona lound * him much , bet ' 1 than no company at all, riding, Lriaj. rowing—in every relaxation teh Baren Ridge afforded. They were Hood deal together. That wm all. Ibe had thought or hoped, he had been L wise to speak. Colonel Morgan, recently assigned to Land in the district, had been makU_ie fort his head-quarters, as the h point from which to carry out his k__r_ to quell the border troubles & under the leadership of the bold , u .l2w Brisbane, had assumed rather Minns proportions. He was a West Pater, who had risen rapidly, owing to lie same qualities he exhibited in this csv field. Before he had been at them month, every member of the border j__ hated him and had vowed his eat!, •■bii* DCnv ie had P ushed Bris " mc and the flower of his followers well no the wilds of Devil's Gulch, with rerv prospect of bagging the whole of fern. Colonel Morgan- father and Judge iennan had been bosom friends. Mona _ beams and castles began with the first _cation. when Ned Morgan came hack josi West Point in all the glory of a _tor__. One often buries those first ___s, but one never forgets them. Jloua —id not forgotten them. Neither ___ Colonel Morgan. Several times already he had ridden over from the fort. Bat all the wonderful newness of some t_iag never dreamed oi came to Mona jas letter which an Indian brought her a her birthday. The fact that Ned hi remembered it at all was almost tfanch. to her as the letter. Large as tiras, the house could not contain

Zetto's iace that she knew there was some hidden meaning in his words—something connected with his threat. He caught her hand and kissed it almost savagely, vaulted the veranda rail, leaped into his saddle and disappeared. Mona still stood looking out over the mountains, still holding the letter in her hand; but she had forgotten both. Spanish irony is not often wasted words. Zetto lad not wasted them. He meant something. But all she could understand was that it was something against Colonel Morgan. She could only think of the bitterness with which he had said: "I would kill him." She started for the stable, but half-way she stopped. She was not afraid to go. There was not a better rider, a truer shot or a braver girl on the Rio Grande. She was thinking of the result. Her lips smiled, but her anxious eyes did not join them. ""He'd only laugh at mc lor riding eight miles to tell him that Zetto had threatened to shoot him. He'd tell mc the woods were full of bigger things than Zetto, who had all done the same. And _etto won't go to the fort. He knows Ned's coming here, and he'll try to do t near the house, so that I shall know. if I only knew when he was coming I :ould meet him part way. Perhaps he :an't come to-night. I hope he can't." She walked slowly back to the house, thinking how little she expected, when .he read the letter, to be hoping that he would not come. The sun was not setting, but the shadows were creeping up out of their hiding places in the eternal twilight of those deep defiles. She went up into the tower and lighted the great lamp that could be seen from half-way to the fort. Then she lighted the large lantern on the veranda, which flooded the lawn with light as far as the dense shrubbery would admit. The house seemed strangely deserted. There were no serl vants about. The Chinese boy who brought her supper and her father's said i :hey had all gone to the river. She sat j with her father till dark.

He was sleeping, and she crept into the library, opening upon the broad reception hall which was brilliantly lightad and on the light veranda. It was dark in the library. No one could see her there, and she sat close to the window upon the veranda. The ticking of the clock tortured her, and she stopped it. The night and the mountains never seemed so full of frightfully suggestive sounds. She was trembling. Her hands were like ice. A hundred times she thought she heard the distant beat of horses' hoofs, then a blur of confused sounds, then, for an instant, silence like death; and she clutched the chair, to hold aerself back from running frantically down the road

When she came into the library she bad brought her revolver with her and laid it on a table by the window. A stealthy s-iep sounded in the shrubbery near the veranda. She reached quickly for the revolver."- but in the darkness she ait something which made a noise. Without waiting she sprang through the winlow and crossed the veranda. A man ame from the shrubbery. She could not see his face, under the broad brim of his sombrero, but he was much larger than Zetto. lie wore a leather jacket, witb dagger and pistol-belt. Under his arm he carried a rifle. Coming slowly forward, be said:

bfcappiness. She was sitting on the _-sandak. where she eouid have the ■My sympathy of the wild ravines and if 4 gorges stretching down to the ftaat: -freer. Over and over again she hi 1 can Teach the iort in time. 1 all ride over to spend your birthday jening with yon. 1 have a pretty little imond ring, just for a birthday, and k must accept that, in any ease. But Jam coming to tell you the old, old lory. Mona. Don't say no. it you can kp it. It will only mean that I must fait and work till I can ask again with Ktter hope. I know I'm not halt worthy of you, Mona, but- there was never lnvone but you. There never will be."

■ "Beggin' yer pardon, Miss Sherman. Thar's nuthin' to fear: but I'll jest step inside with ye a minute, ef ye don't mind; relatin' to a little business 1 might explain.'"

Mona waa wrapped in golden dreams. te did not hear a step approaching or

Clinching her fists and biting her lips to keep from fainting, Mona hurried down the veranda to the hall door, fearing that he would insist on going with her into the dark library. She knew his errand. He was Zetto's messenger. His business was to tell her of Zetto's revenge. A New England lire was burning under the deep Mexican mantel in the great reception hall, as an old-home welcome for Ned.

tee a shadow fall across the verandah. letio stopped abruptly before, her and baited ior her to look up. it was a isoek Involuntarily, she started to her pet, bat he caught her hand. His voice j_slow, but he »poke quickly; his eyes ashed, and there were deep lines oa his pamsli face. "Why do you try to roid mc now;" he asked. "You need _t tell mc, for I know. It is only since i came—that blanked Morgan! Curse m! I would kill him!"'

Mona sank helplessly on the ' settee, just inside the door. The man clanked, slowly and heavily, to a chair by a table in the centre of the hall. He threw himself down with the uncouth bravado of actors in a third-rate play, dropping a heavy arm across the table. Would he never speak"? Was there nothing for her to do but sit there, trembling? At last he said:

"Zetto! - " she cried, wrenching hex- nand oia his.

"And he's coming again," Zetto conDnedj pointing to the letter. "You'll Dt try to avoid him. Curse him! I __ld"ki_l -"' "Stop, Zetto!" Mona exclaimed, "fou're a coward to say that 1 1 have .ever been anything more than friends vita you; but if Colonel Morgan was Wt in existence I would never be even -deads astain." 'Ton love Mm; so you hate me,'' ZetV> said slowly. ''Why should I not hate ™n. vrhen I love you? Don't speak. &>n. tell mc I have no right to love .oa, ior I have. A cat can look at a Tre been thinking of doiDg _ometesig for you to-day—something a little eat oi the ordinary line of diamond * la ? s ' " he glanced scornfully at the *Rer, as though he had been reading it, ppade down and halt crumpled ia her kad. -sMie they were talking —"somewould at least convince you .flat my love had _-omc quality of WagUt If I offer you a birthday gift, *» Joa accept it?' " Mona replied indignantly. "No oaian would accept a gift from a man KM was not at least her friend."

"Colonel Morgan is eomiii" here. I've brought a half dozen good men with mc to settle a little misunderstandin' I've with him, quick and quiet." Mona started. The trembling vanished. It was not yet too late for _er to help. She could only think of her revolver on the library table. The man noticed it. He smiled, in a grim kind of wav, and swung his rifle round toward the settle.

"'.Set still, young lady." Morgan's no fool. When he sees the odds he'll be a lamb. No racket you kin make or make mc make '11 help him any. Only hoarin' yer dad was so low that a row might fix nim, 1 thought 'twould be courteous like to warn ye thet thar won't be no noise "anless'n you make it or require it. See?"

Mona's brain was so busy that she hardly heard: but at that instant horses' hoofs souuded. cantering =<lowly up the drive.

"TheCs him!" the man muttered. '"Now you git out on the top step, to meet him. but don't you go a step further and don't you dare to speak a word, or " He glanced at his rifle, "it's loaded. Lively's the word." He was grinning under his sombrero.

,"I thought not," he muttered. ' _ ™*iW that you loved him. and that you J-nid spurn my love if 1 offered it, f ea , ™ a diamond ring, i haven't of=«red it; but l w i!l tell you this: I'm f J ' a labourer. I took this place simply r *ause I i ovc<J -. ou U ,. J vvante d an ex . 5 s * to be near you. I have Tried to *» your love. Now 1 knew why 1 liav.: lam goin- away. You will * e r See mc again, but you will hear _w! m& UST onc '-' k?*-' Ol tni = da . v is all"- -^ 0U ~ aVe '"'' ! Ed lrie a coward ___»L| t^at - ou woU ld never be my again. It's a tough good-bye, eonI've worked and hoped lor. »^ oUm _ht change your mind. Wo--os°metimes.s °metimes. If I should send you a °^ 1 to " IU _ n t, that you accepted accepted his, and thought **oi_M o V than >0U ex P ect t0 think o{ Ms ' at De a sur" sien that we were *-*a<_s again?"

"1 prefer to meet Colonel Morgan in here." Mona replied without moving.

-'Waal. I prefer to keep my eyes on you." the man said sharply. "They tell mc you kin handle irons Al. 1 ain't takin' no chances. You git lively, or you'll stop there peaceful as you please.'' lb- was coming toward her.

"Coward!" she said: but she went out on the verandah in front of him, just as Ned, accompanied by a single orderly, swung into the light. He tossed his reins to the orderly and vaulted from the saddle, calling:

Many happy returns!

But instead of Mona's. a clear, stern voice from the door called: "Hands up, Colonel' You're well covered, and drop if you move. When my men have lifted yer irons, et ye'r quiet ye kin step inside. The gal's waitin' fur a word o' "congratulation."

-•- ° cot understand you. Zetto. I—

v.iaf^ 1 OQ e word. Answer mc, yes or s_on^ ds _ rnly - " It i£ a little "i ues ' &-" c and de ath with mc. Answer fjg& or no. Would it mean that we .'"-aie_<__""

"■_ I >*& ihm 6 ™ acee P t a g'-it from you it $_B_s_M_, that X believe that we are [ ■*>«'„."~. I 1& said ; trembling; ior there ■'•- 'M et ™_ " fierce and enlistee is

Glancing quickly about him, Colonel Morgan saw, besides the rifle from over Mona's shoulder, at least four more, nearer, while two held his orderly helpless. Throwing ug his. hands __ called:

A GIFT FROM A REJECTED SUITOR THAT WAS PRIZED MORE THAN A LOVER'S RING.

By WILLARD FRENCH.

"'All right, Captain. The joke's old, but it's good. Help yourself." When they released him. he ran up the steps as though nothing had happened, took Mona's cold hand in his and led her back into the hall, where she sank again upon the settle, white and numb— ouly her eyes saw everything and her brain was as alive as her body seemed dead. She dared not move; she could only think. But she did not mean that any chance should slip her, and it seemed as though some chance must come. She thought of Zetto, and her finger-nails cut the palms of her hands. . Only then she realised that Ned had left the ring there. Tt made her angry that he should have thought her capable of caring for it while he was in danger. She could have thrown it on the floor. But at that moment a curious thing occurred. The stranger had flung himself again into the chair beside the table, motioning Colonel Morgan to a chair opposite. Four men stood together in the broad door, their rifles ready for instant use. ln sitting down Ned bent forward and looked under the broad brim of the sombrero, then threw himself into his chair, with a boisterous laugh, exclaiming: "'lt's Brisbane himself! By the powers! Now that's a new joke, old man, and a good one.'"

"A joke?*" the outlaw muttered. "'Why. yes," Ned replied, still laughing. "Don't you see? I've just left a whole company, out in Devil's Gulch, watching the entrance to your cave, waiting to nab you: and, presto! I meet you thirty miles away, making a birthda v call."

"Morgan, with a company, waits in Devil's Gulch to capture. Brisbane, while Brisbane, with only six good men. captures Morgan right under ihe guns of his fort. Yes. it's a joke, t see it now." the outlaw said .solemnly. '"And next I'll see that diamond ring. Mebbe 't'll fit my gal as well as your.-. And thet's another joke." He slowly stretched his great hand, palm up, across the table. •'I haven't got it. Brisbane." Ned replied deliberately," and if I had 1 would not turn it over to you.'*

Mona saw an opportunity for which she had been waiting. Before Nell could finish or Brisbane reply, she said: "Here is the ring, if that is all you want,"' and hurrying to them she laid it on the table.

She exper-ted the frown which contracted Ned's forehead, and she was not sorry to show him that she thought more of him than of the ring. The opportunity, however, for which she had been waiting was an excuse to place herself between Ned aud the four rifles in the door, _he measured the line carefully, with a marksman's eye. before she started, and stopped beside the tabie where she, was sure that she covered it. Neither Mona nor the outlaw expected the quick motion with which Colonel Morgan picked up the ring, and smiling in spite of the frown, -'ipped it into his Docket.

The muscles of Brisbane's big hand tightened, and the hand moved toward his belt. Mona saw it. Her heart stood still, but she only clutched the table, for she dared not move from between Ned and the other four. But the big hand stopped on the edge of the table. Tbo game was his. There was no haste. The outlaw purposed to play it slowly, for what there was in it. He preferred to see Colonel Morgan yield to him. With eves fixed on him he muttered:

"1 let ye in to say a peaceable goodbye with the gal. But I've no great crop o' patience handy. You fork over thet ring, an' git through yer nonsense lively "and quiet, or I'll leave yet right here for the undertaker, seer And that's another ioke."

Ned leaned back in his chair, replying slowly: "It would be. Brisbane, if it would only work: but there's no point to it. When I heard that you had intercepted and read my letter to Miss Sherman, and had laid n trap to catch mc here to-nighl . Don't you dare to move a finger, old man. or three good bullets will find you quick! You can look over your shoulder at the librarydoor and you'll s.-e where they'll come f-om. You can look at the front door and see whether your men or mine are on guard. 1 simply played the same | game, and have taken yon and your men instead. If you go with mc peaceably, you are a prisoner of war, and -will be treated as such. Otherwise y-ou 'will be shot now or at daylight in the morning, as you think best."

With a groan Brisbane's head fell upon his hands. The soldiers who had entered the library through the window hurried in. and slipping handcuffs ou his wrists led him away. Mona fell, fainting in Ned's arms. When she recovered she was sitting in the arm-chair by the lire. Xed was beside her. Tliev were alone

"It is all well that ends well. Mona, darling," he was saying, when she fully comprehended. "Catching Brisbane was the best thing possible. It's the luck of your birthday, darling. But where should I have been by now. if it hadn't been for Zetto?"

"Yes. It was he ,\ho did it." Mona said, shuddering.

"He did ir, bless him!" Ned repeated, not understanding the shudder. "And all the time I've been so jealous that I've come pretty close to hating him. They ! told mc that he was a gentleman, dis- | guised because he loved you. And he | was .such a handsome fellow, and so I near you, and could do so much for you. | ] v.as so afraid he would take advantage iof your birthday, just as I vyanted to, ' and that my brave little girl might acI cep. some gift from iiim first, and think I more of ft than she. thought of mine. I j had to write the letter, at least, to let j you know that mine was coming.

"I never misjudged a man in all my life as I did Zetto. 1 wonder if I could have been man enough to have done it for him. He said he told you he was j coming to warn mc of the intercepted | letter and the plot, which he discovered j when they came to him this noon and ! told him to have all the servants out of the house and be ready to help them. He said he told you too he was never coming back; but I'don't believe he confessed that it was because he must fly for his life. He is hurrying back to Spain. He'd not be safe an hour anywhere in Mexico, after betraying the border gang. And it was all because he loved you and knew that you loved mc. He is a bigger man than I could have . been, Tm afraid. But Moa». unworthy

as I am, I love you; and you'll not say no I _He__sai_ you loved m_ ' Mona felt the ring slipping upon her finger and she held Ned's 'hand fast as her answer. But her thoughts were distracted. What her lips said .was: "Zetto was a very noble friend. I want to find him someway and tell him so." Then ;her eyes fell on the ring, and she remembered all it meant—among other things that it was the one moment of woman's life when it is her prerogative to torment. She laid, her hand on the soldier's but looking into the flre she said: "Maybe you don't -want Ned, when I have told you all." "All what, dearest? What could you possibly tell mc that would make "mc feel like that?"' He was bending tenderly over her. "Why, what I must tell you,"' she replied. v That Zetto did make mc a birthday gift, just, as you feared he would; that I accepted it before I accepted I yours, and that I do—oh, Ned, forgive 1 me!— I do think a great deal more of it than I think of yours." ! "Mona!" Ned groaned, leaning back against the mantel, whiter than when ,he faced the Tifles. It was more, than she meant. She sprang to her feet and, her arms about his neck, she whispered: "How could I help it, darling, when he sent mc you?"

AN UNFORTUNATE GIBX.

SHAMEFUL ATTEMPT AT BLACKMAILING. Of an extremely delicate nature is an a' leged blackmailing case which has been brought before one of the Paris Polite Courts. However the case may turn out, the initial story at least is a very sad one. A girl, not 16 years of age, the daughter of a wealthy South American lady, residing iv Paris iv a villa in the Riviera, got Into a terrible scrape. Her mother seems to have kept what Is called open house, and some unscTupu'ous person first took advantage of the poor girl's ignorance of evil and betrayed her.

This calamity occurred while they were staying in ibe south, and according to the mother's version a young Frenchman whom she ha _ been very kind In entertaining, and who lives there, getting wind of the mis<_ref, came forward with an offer to marry the daughter. Neither of the ladies would, however, hear of such a plan, and the mother describes the man as having exhibited considerable resentment at this rebuff, the more so as on December 15 the girl's

engagement to another suitor was announced. The month was not at an end when the mother received, at her home ln Paris to which they had returned, the visit of a total stranger, another Frenchman, who, as she relates, sent in a card on which he describes himself as the editor of a

newspaper that has never appeared. He explained that the journal ln question would soon come out, and that its first feuilleton would be tbe story of a scandal ln the Riviera, which would also be brought out in book form. Proofs of tbe first chapter were handed to the unlucky lady, who. to her dismay, recognised the tale of her daughter's dishonour. The names were of course different, but the rest wax true to the life. No shrewdness was needed to understand what the man was driving at. and the lady stares that, in answer to a question, he said that one thonsand copies of the volume at 3. francs each would make :!500 francs, but that 3000 francs would meet the requirements of the situation. Such Ls her version of what took place. Tbe afflicted mother asked her unwelcome visitor ro return on the morrow, and as soon as he had left she flew to the nearest police station with the narrative of what had occurred. The usual trap was laid, and the rauu was arrested. He declared that he had been sent by the youth already referred to, aud by another individual whom he mentioned.