OUTLAW LOVE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20384, 12 October 1929, Page 16 (Supplement)

OUTLAW LOVE.

BY JL* ANITA SAVAGE.

CHAPTER X.—(Continued.) Yet Myra was conscious of no sense of fear now, and tho dangers only made her pulse beat faster anJ stirred her blood. But it was ut/ easy task riding a mulo along precipitous paths and keeping her »eat while slithering down slopes, clad «s she was in only a filmy evening frock and a fur coat, and she cried out in protest at last: "How much further, Senor Cojuelo? I cannot sit this ungainly brute much longer in these clothes." " Courage, sweet lady, wc have but a little further to go," Cojuelo called back to her over his shoulder. Ho spoke truly. A few minutes later the party halted in a narrow, pitch-dark ravine, and Myra was lifted from her mule. " Tako my arm. senorita, h\st you •tumble in tho darkness on tho rough ground," said the muffled voice of El Diablo Cojuelo. " Tho entrance to my mountain eyrie is narrow and unprepossessing, but I promise you that you snail find comfort within."

He pressed tho switch of an electric torch as ho spoke, and guided Myra over •rocky ground to what seemed a mero cleft in a wall of rock. " You will notice that this entrance to my lair is only wide enough to allow of the passago of ono person at a time," he jesumed. " Here a handful of men could defy an army corps, and there aro other means of entry—and other ways of escape. I give you welcome, sweet lady, to the fortress of El Diablo Cojuelo." Myra—again with the sensation that the whole affair was a sort of fantastic dream —squeezed through tho cleft revealed by tho light of tho electric torch, advanced two or threo yards, passed through another cleft at right angles to the first, and topped at Cojuelo's bidding. You perceive, senorita, that we seem to havo come to a dead end," said he bandit, flashing tho light about. "What appears to be a solid wall of rock confronts, us. It is actually a cunninglycontrived door giving entrance to a series of cave 3 which Nature must surely, have constructed for my use. Arid El Diablo Voiuelo has improved on Nature. He •I l "'*' With his foot ho pressed somo hidden spring or lever on the ground, and a massive door swung open, levealing to the astonished eyes of Myra, a big, irregu-larly-shaped room that looked as it had been hewn out of the solid rock, a room furnished with roughly-constructed chairs and a suttee on which there wero many cushions, and with many rugs on the rocky floor. Most amazing fcaturo of all. the placo was lighted with electricity, and warmed by an electric radiator. " I suppose I ain awako and not dreaming! " exclaimed Myra, moving forward and gazing round with wondering eyes. "This is more amazing than the castlo of Don Carlos. Are you a magician as well as a brigand ? " " Both senorita," Cojuelo answered, as he closed tho secret door, " but there is nothing magical about it, after all. It Was a simple matter to have an electric light plant'smuggled up here in sections. It was an equally simple matter to obtain rues and cushions from tho Castillio de Ruiz, since all the servants of Don Carlos as I have told you, are in my pay." Ho strode forward to the table and touched a bell, and almost immediately an ancient woman with a wrinkled, mon-liey-like, nut-brown face, tanned by wind and weather, appeared through an opening 'ooncealed by a curtain in the further wall. •' She was obviously of great age, Bnt her eyes wero bright and sparkling with intelligence and she was active in her movements.

" This is Mother Dolores, who will attend you," Cojuelo explained, after giving the woman some instructions in her native' tongue. " Sho has a chaugo of alothing and refreshments in readiness for vou. I will leave you in her charge while I attend to the disposal of my other capi~ He disappeared through tho aperturo in the wall, and Mother Dolores, after inspecting Myra appraisinglv, and admiringly, gabbling away in Spanish meanwhile, indicated to the fair prisoner that iho wished her to accompany her. Sho led the way through a regular maze of crooked passages, and Myra saw that Cojuelo's mountain lair was a strange freak of nature, probably the result of » volcanic upheaval or an earthquake in lome prehistoric age. It was a series of eaves connected with fissures, a sort of irregular honeycomb of rock. , " Apertmento —dormitorio," were tho #nly words Myra could understand of the flood Dolores "let loose as she ushered her into .one of the cave-rooms, and by pantomime indicated that she wished- Myra to undress.

The rocky -walls of .the cave-bedroom were hidden beneath hangings of moire silk, tho fioor was thickly carpeted arid the place was equipped with an oak bedstead and some small pieces of roughly constructed furniture. But what made Myra gasp in amazement was to see her own silk dressing-gown and tho nightie sho had worn the night before lying on tho eider-down bed-spread, together with other garments, while on the primitive dressingtable stood her dressing-case. "Incredible!" sho exclaimed. "Theso things wero in my bedroom at tho Castillo de Ruiz only an hour or two ago!" " Si, si, senorita, cl Castillo de Ruiz," said Dolores, nodding her head and showing her toothless gums in a grin. " Maravifioso! Etra vcz cl bueno Maestro Cojuelo." >, " Cojuelo boasted that all tho servants «f Don Carlos aro in his pay, aiTd it must fee true," thought Myra. " These things must havo been taken from my room before tho raid, and tho servants probably Jinew El Diablo Cojuelo was going to kidnap me. Surely I havo nothing to fear from a man who takes such trouble to ensure that I shall bo comfortable ? And yet M •. •"

CHAPTER XI. i Dolores scuffled out, still gabbling unintelligibly in Spanish, but reappeared almost at. once with a jug of hot water. Sho stood watching Myra with mingled euriosity and admiration as her fair chargo washed after leisurely undressing, then put on her chic nightdress and dressing gown, and a filmy attractive boudoir cap.

"'Senor Cojuelo said something about refreshments/' said Myra, hoping sho .would make -Mother Dolores understand, and trying to remember some of the Spanish words sho had learned. " I jihould'" like :i cup of coffee- —cafe—or a tflass of vino, and cigarette—cigarillo. Entender ?" " Si, si, senorita." answered Dolores. Cafe, vino, nguardicne, cigarillo. Todo pronto." She oppned the door, and made signals to Myra that she wished hor to return with her to the outer apartment, at the same time letting loose another torrent of words. " Perhaps meals in bedrooms are 'charged extra," Myra remarked, and laugned at the idea. Sine wa3 conscious of no sensation of actual fear, bub sho was curious and apprehensive as to how El Diablo Cojuelo would behave, remembering his reputation arid bis hint, that he might fall in love with her and refuse to surrender her no matter how great the ransom offered. 4 Still smiling, Myra slid her bare feet into her bedroom slippers and accompanied Mother Dolores back through the maze of crooked, rocky passages to the outer apartment. Comer e heber e fumar. senorita," > said Dolores, indicating a tray set on a stool by the electric heater. On the tray stood a steaming jug of <-offce, a flagon of cognac, a plate of biscuits, s. cup and saucer, and a silver cigaretto " More magic.'' commented Myra, as Dolores set a chair for her and'poured out. a glßsg of cognac which she insisted S M yra drinking at once. Then she * ®d pufc coffee, gabbled something

FINE MYSTERY STORY WITH ROMANTIC ELEMENT.

about tho " bueno maestro," and withdrew. Left alone. Myr-i sipped the fragrant coffee and looked about her with interest. " This is certainly brigandage up-to-date," she reflected. " 1 wonder what manner of man El Diablo Lojuelo is: A minuto or two later sho heard a movement behind her, and glanced over her shoulder expecting to see Mother j Dolores, but saw instead the hooded figure of El Diablo Cojuelo. Instinctively she drew her silken dressing gown closer around her and started to her feet. " I am sorry if I startled you, senorita," said Cojuelo. , . , "Dolores seemed to be that I must come hero for my coffee," explained Myra, recovering her composure. •" I instructed Madro Dolores to ask vou to do mo tho honour of returning lierti to have a talk with me before yon retired, senorita. forgetting that you do not understand much Spanish, responded Cojuelo. " If I had understood you wished to talk to me, I should not'have prepared to retire. Surely anything you have to sav will keep until to-morrow ? Meanwhile. 1 shall be thankful for a cigarette, said Myra coldly. 'Pardon!" exclaimed Coiuelo, turning quicklv to pick up the silver cigarette box from the tablo and proffering it •' Your favourite brand, you perceive. You will give El Diablo Cojuelo credit, I hope, for making provision for your comfort." . V You certainly seem to he something of a magician," commented Myra, as sho helped herself to a cigarette and accepted a light, " Perhaps you are in league , with the Devil, and that is why you are : known as El Diablo Cojuelo! I should be interested to know how you managed i to get, some of my clothes here, together with mv toilet requisites." " Tlnit was not the work of the devil, senorita," the hooded figure answered, with a muffled laugh. "El Diablo Cojuelo thinks of everything and had made his preparations in advance. Did I not tell you all the servants of El Castillo de Ruiz were in my pay? It was a simple matter, therefore, to have somo of your things smuggled out of the castlo" beforo the raid. Pray be seated, senorita.' ' He waved his hand invitingly toward (he couch which was drawn up close to the electric heater, and Myra, reflecting that 'it was in keeping with the rest of the fantastic, dream-liko adventure that she, clad only in a nightdress and dressing gown, should bo talking to a hooded bandit in an clectrically-lighted room in the heart of a mountain, seated herself. ** I suppose I should thank you for being so thoughtful." sho remarked, ( with a tinge of irony in her sweet voice. "Am I to understand that even the Englishspeaking maid at tho Castillo de Ruiz is in votir pay ?" " Even she, senorita, and I reproach mvself—l who have boasted that X think of" everything—for not having kidnapped her at tho same time as you, so that we should have had no languago difficulty such as has occurred with Madro Dolores. If you wish it, I will lvidnap her to-morrow." "Please don't trouble, senor. I cant, believe sho is in your pay. She seemed afraid and crossed herself when she mentioned your name. \ou might frighten her to death. Incidentally, do you wear vour disguise all the time, even when you are safe here, in your mountain lair? Do you look so much like a devil that you are afraid to show your face?" She looked challenginglv at the hooded figure of her captor as she asked the questions. Ilis cowl had only two holes cut for tho eyes and a slit at tJFie mouth, and she was' wondering what manner of face it concealed. " The senorita pays me the compliment of wishing to see me without disguise! exclaimed Cojuelo. " Sweet lady, are you not afraid you may fall in love with your captor?" " I think I can take tho risk," retorted Myra drily. "It is more than a risk," rejoined Cojuelo; "but I will discard my disguise with pleasure. " Behold El Diablo Cojuelo !" He flung off his cowl and robe, and Myra sprang to her feet with a cry of amazement and her hands went convulsively to her breast. For sho found her- I self looking into the smiling and triumphant eyes of Don Carlos ae Ruiz. "Don Carlos!" she gasped. "You! But I don't understand. ' " I am El Diablo Cojuelo, dear Myra," explained Don Carlos, obviously enjoying tho sensation ho had created. "I feared you had guessed my secret." " So tho whole affair, I take it, is an elaborate practical joke ?" Myra queried after a pause, dropping hack into her seat and forcing a laugh. "El Diablo Cojnelo, the outlaw, is merely a creature of your own /imagination V " I am EI Diablo Cojuelo," repeated Don Carlos. "lam a dual personality. At my castle and at Court 1 am Don Carlos de Ruiz, Governor of a Province and an administrator of the laws. Here in my mountain eyrie I am Cojuelo. tho outlaw, acknowledging no laws, savo those I make myself." "I still do not understand," remarked Myra, with perplexity in her bluo eyes. " Do you mean to say that you lead a double life and occasionally masquerade as a brigand without anyone knowing that Don Carlos and Cojuelo are ono and tho same ? Arc they not awaro of your identity ?" " Many of my people are awaro of my identity, but nono would betray me, oven if nut to tho torture," replied Don Carlos " Those who are in tho secret vastly enjoy the way in which I hoodwink tho authorities. They enjoy the joke of my offer of a reward for tho capture of El Diablo Cojuelo, dead or alive, and my periodical ' searches' for the Outlaw." "But what is the idea of it all?" inquired Myra. "It seems foolishness to me, but, perhaps, it flatters your vanity to bo able to go about scaring women and kidnapping girls." There was scorn instead of bewilderment in her voice and eyes now, and Don Carlos' pale face flushed slightly. " Jieforo the coming of El Diablo Cojuelo thoro were men in this province, who enriched themselves at the cost of tho peasants, cheated farmers out of their land, and made them little better than serfs," he explained quietly and deliberately. " Tho law could not touch these vampires, parasites, moneylenders, and profiteers. Cojuelo came upon the scene, bled : theso rogues as they had bled the peasants, plundered their houses, spirited them away, and held them to ransom." "Really! Quite a profitable hobby, I suppose!" Myra remarked. ' " Quite —and useful, to boot," responded Don Carlos, his faco now expressionless. " With tho money which I have wrung from tho spoilers I havo been able to restore their lands to many of the people without much cost to myself, to pay their debts and escape from the thraldom of blood-sucking moneylenders and tyrannical masters. I havo also made it, possible for men to marry tho girls of their choice, in cases whoro tho parents objected. A threat from El Diablo* Cojuelo to carry off a girl if she is not allowed to marry tho man she loves is usually enough to bring her parents to their senses."

" So if I understand you right, you are a sort of benevolent brigand, doing good without much risk or expense to yourself?" remarked Myra. "A sort of modern Claude Duval—although lie was a highwayman and not a. kidnapper." "It pleases you to be ironic, Myra," responded Don Carlos. " Expense does not concern me, for I am very wealthy, but it pleases mo to deprive the bloodsuckers of their ill-gotten gains. As for the risk, I suggest you under-estimnto it. there is a price on the head of El Diablo Cojuelo, as I have mentioned, and the military have orders to shoot at sight. Apart from that, however, if my identity were betrayed my wealth and position would not save mo from being cast into prison. I might even be sentenced to death."

(COPYRIGHT.)

" How amusing!" commented Myrn, slill inclined to bo scornful. " What, you Niy may bo true, l>ut it th»CJi not exploit! or' c.vtuso your conduct, in bringing me hero as your captive. I was your guest, and therefore, you wero responsible for my safctyr"* *•' t warned you that, El Diablo Cojuelo might carry you off and teach you how to love," answered Don Carlos, his grave taco illuminated by a boyish, impish smile.

" Don Carlos, pleaso bo sensible," pleaded Myra, at lieart a little fearful now. " Don't you realise that this escapade may havo serious consequences tor you'! Tony is sure to communicate with' the British Ambassador, and the affair may bccomo one of international importance. The best thing you can do is to tak« me back to-morrow morning and explain that the whole affair was an elaborately-planned practical joke." '■ I am quito agreeable to do that, .Myra, provided you promiso to marry mo and confers that you love me," said Don Carlos. "Wo can explain that wc succeeded in escaping from the clutches of El Diablo Cojuelo: or, if you prefer it, you ran tell Mr. Anthony Standish that I rescued you and you have fallen in love with your rescuer." "I shall do nothing of tho sort!" exclaimed Myra with spirit. " In that case, Myra. you will remain here as the captive of El Diablo Cojuelo, and the outlaw wTll try to teach you tho meaning of love and passion; teach you to respond to tho call of your heart—if you have a heart. You shall havo your first lesson now, my sweet captive."

Ho sat down beside Myra on tho couch as lie spoke flung his arms around her, and drew her into u close embrace, in spite of her frantic struggles, crushing her close, to his breast and kissing her lips, her etiecks. and her neclc. " Lot 1110 go! Oh, please—plenso let nie go!'' gasped Myra, still vainly striving to break from his embrace. " Only confess that you love nie, Myra darling, and 1 will do anything you ask," lion Carlos, replied, his deep voice violent with passion, his dark eyes aglow with ardour. " Only confess yourself conquered." "I won't! I won't! I'd rather die! I hate von!—hate you!" stormed Myra, gaspingly, still struggling. " Let. mo go, you brute! You arc "hurting me." Don Carlos relaxed his hold, but _ restrained Myra when sho would have risen from tho conch. " Myra, darling, why do you persist in resisting ino and refusing to listen to tho call of lovo ho asked, gently. "Do you 'realiso that your resistanco is but adding fuel to the fires of my passion ? You drovo mo almost mad when you coquetted with me aboard the yacht, made 1110 crazy with desire, then laughed at me. I am but human, and my longing (or you is not to bo denied. I vowed I would make you mine if I had to break every law of God and man. You are mine now, my lovely, adorable, M3*ra, my heart's delight!" it seemed to Myra that a remorseless gleam had crept into tho bright eves of Don Carlos. " Is it useless to appeal to your better nature, to your chivalry?" she asked quickly, her voico tremulous. "Is it useless to appeal to you again to surrender to tho call of love!" countered Don Carlos. " Myra, mio caro, every fibre of my being is pulsing with lovo for you, and my heart is craving for the joy and rapturo that you nlono can give. Look into my eyes, mio caro, and whisper that you lovo me." lie laid his hand on Myra's shoulders as he spoke; then his hands slid caressingly from, her shoulders down her arms to her hands, which lie raised to his lips and then drew round his neck. Myra was trembling, and her brcoth was coming and going unsteadily, and sho felt as if she had lost all power of resistance, felt as if she had been drugged. She closed her eyes, and a gasping sigh broke from her lips as Don Carlos strained Tier close to his breast again, murmuring endearments.

" Let me set your heart afire with burning kisses," ho murmured. "I will kiss the heart out of you, sweet one, anil kiss it back again, white hot with mv own love and ardour. Give me back kiss for kiss, niio cao!" Again ho was kissing her, hungrily, passionately, yet tenderly withal. Mvra's senses were reeling. Ho did seem to be drawing tho very heart out of her with Id's lips and drugging her sense. She felt as if sho was suffocating, and again began to struggle involuntarily after a few minutes. "You aro stifling me!" she panted. " Let me go!" Don Caros released her at onco% and she rose to her feet, pressing her hands instinctively to her heaving bosom as if to try to still the wild throbbing rtf her heart. Her lovely faco was flushed, her breath was coming and going in sobbing gasps, her eyes, dark with emotion, were feverishly bright, and her whole body seemed afire.

" Let trie go now, please!" she pleaded, gaspingly. 1 can bear no more. I—l think I—l am going to faint." She swayed as she spoke, and Don CarTos was on -his feet in an instant, and had thrown his arm around her lest sho should collapse. " Bit down again for a few minutes, beloved, until you recover,", lie said quickly. 116" settled Myra back again among the cushions on the couch, and insisted upon her drinking a' glass of cognac, which made her feel more feverish tlmn over, but revived her and dispelled liio faintnoss. " Did I kiss you too hungrily, darling, and feast myself too long on your sweet lips, without pausing for breath?" asked Don Carlos after a pause, when ho saw that Myra was recovering, lie, too was flushed and rather breathless, and his long sinewy hands wcro trembling slightly. " Myra, beloved, havo my kisses fired your heart?" I " You have hurt me," equivocated Mvra, avoiding his glowing eyes. " I feel fatnt and exhausted. Oh, surely I havo sufforcd enough to-night! My strength is spent." Don Carlos sighed heavily, and ran his lingers through his hair. "I did not mean to 'hurt you, and had forgotten that you must bo weary," ho said, aftor a moment of hesitation. 110 bent down and picked Myra up as if sho- wero a baby, cradling her in his arms and smiling down into her startled bluo eyes. " Always, since our first meeting, I havo longed to hold you in my arms liko this and to feel that you were wholly and completely mino," ho as ho caressed Myra's cheek with his lips. " You aro very beautiful, my sweot lovo. Tho sweetness and loveliness of you entrances and enraptures my heart. _ I shall spend my life admiring and worshipping, exploring and delighting in tho loveliness of you, my heart's delight. l)o you feel, myra, mio, that hero in youf Tover's arms and on my breast you havo found the homo of your heart ?"

Yot again Myra felt ho was sapping her powers of resistance, casting a spell over her, and sho lay passivo in his si rong arms, breathing gaspingly. " Let mo go," sho pleaded brokenly. " Please let 1110 go!" "* As you wish," said Don Carlos. "I shall put liiv sweet baby to rest," _ JTo carried Myra through tho winding, rocTv passages to her room. Dread gripped Myra's heart as Don Carlos carried her into the bedroom and set her: down gently on the side of , the bed. livery vestige" of colour had drained out of her lovely face and sho was trembling violently. " Do not be afraid, Myra darling," Don Carlos murmured caressingly. "1' can l>o gentle as any woman, and would not harm liiy precious treasure." " Don Carlos, it isn't fair," burst out Myra tremulously. >" Please go," .(To be continued on Saturday next.)