The Mesa Trail

ttin' in my car yond

se. From narrowed lids the sheriff eyed the lanky, up-drawn figure of Shea, which he now no

up," said he. "I'll t

rs. Crump, calmly. "You'll

drunkard and a hob

e lady. "When it comes to that, I've seen you and Crump so paralyzed you couldn't talk. There wa

ed to argue further along t

hoboes an' greasers, but not on Mehitabel Crump! Your authority quit quite a ways back. Thady Shea only stol

" reflected Tracy. "Now you g

hted her corncob with delib

shark, huh? Well, three weeks ago I had a blamed good hole in the hills, until Abel Dorales come along and located just below me. Th

on't obtain her

tavers? If it wasn't that, it'd be somethin' wor

how you come to have the fl

man you used to be, ye'd up and give them jumpers a hemp necktie! But now

courts. We ain't slick enough! And Dorales is a Mormon-bred greaser, than which the devil ain't never fathered a worse combination. Now, Mis' Cr

several hired greasers with Dorales, and I reckon I got two-three; ain't right sure. I only got Abel glancingly, and when I

n't kill

but it looked like I'd only blooded his shoulder and he was layin' low to plug

whistle. "Whew-w!" he said, slowly. "

ollons. Over

ny, then? After that doin's this

over the shootin'. It'd mak

aughed with all the uproarious abando

orales will be on your trail till hell freezes over, ma'a

again," she retorted. "She bucks like a range hoss and ki

to the engine before killing it. Then he threw back the hood, and, under the sombre eyes of Thady Shea, worked i

the lady. "Your spark plugs was fouled. W

Tio whenever ye get a line on Dorales or M

anded the sheri

ed with her pipe

hese new-fangled things nobody give a whoop for in the old days, but that draws down the money now. If

s," reflected the sheriff. "And skins '

going to be some smoke 'fore he gets his paws on i

me business up

letter up to Coravel Tio for me-

I will,

letter. The process was obviously painful and laborious, but at length it was finished. The sheriff s

yourself, ma'am-and

r in the direction of Santa Fé, then she turn

n have it, Thady. Get out here and settle down for a sp

a's muffled voice as he lean

r shaking for liquor and

ent, his usual histrionic pose. The gulp of liquor which Mrs. Crump careful

f things set forth in this your discourse to the sheriff's ear, and I have gath

count as ye stand, but ye got the makin's. Now cut out the booze and I'll take ye for partner, savvy? What's more, I'll spend a couple o' weeks a

n spirit; his soul quivered nakedly before him, and he was ashamed. For a space he did not answer, but star

e diverse creatures wearing human semblance could scarce have been found than these twain, here met upon a desert upland of New Mexico-the woman, a self-reliant mountaineer and prospecto

years, the sad wreckage of high hopes and tinsel glories, the hard and wretched fact of liquor. He would shut it out of his mind foreve

his sad and earnest eye

asy to swear that I would pluck out drowned honour by the roots-but, madam, I think that this morning I am weary

now," said the lady.

manner. In this bow, however, was an element of grace, the mor

e. Yet, in picking from the gutter a drunken failure, ar

e. Ye'll learn t

desert places and live. In justice to yourself, do you not think that your enemie

w Mehitabel Crump gripped

ge-touched features suddenly hardened into sentient bronze from which her blue eyes bl

d agin' me, except them for what I don't give a tinker's dam; and if one o' them dasts to say it in my hearin', chain lightnin' is goin' to strike q

s, and starting erect with bristling front mutters her low and terri

ctacle of wrath. Before the hurt and amazed eyes of him Mrs. Crump suddenly abandoned

up," she brus

that ye stay sober a couple o' wee

despair in Shea's voice; he

t. Let's

oing to

r, and seized the crank. Then she paused, her

world, I reckon. We got grub, and everything else can wait a couple o' weeks or so. Accordin' to the Good Bo

a made himself as small as possible; Mrs. Crump crowded in under

. Twenty minutes later an intersecting road made its appearance; Mrs. Crump left the highway and followed this road

o Cochiti pueblo," she a

h grotesque country as this which now lay on every hand as though evoked by magic-utter desolation of huge rock masses, blistered and calcined by ancient fires,

k-not ill, but downright sick, possibly due to the sparse gulps of liquor which he had downed, possibly to the glaring sun. He ca

mly. "This here Henry sure does go pokin' where you'd think nothin' short of a mule could live!

dependency of the sheltered and civilized being. Contact with this strangely primitive woman frightened him. He felt like babbling in his ter

inaccessibility rivalled the great ca?on of the Colorado; had he known that he was about to tread a trail which few white men had ever followe

car itself filled all the trail and rendered further progress i

at? It ain't lack of ambition that makes folks mis'able and unsatisfied; it's lack o' purpose. Now, I aim to teach ye some purpose, Thady.

canoncito, and reach the Rio Grande. It's less'n two mile in a straight line to w

hea groaned inaudi