The Happy Family

behind. Even old Aleck Douglas-whom years and trouble had enfeebled until his very presence here with Jean and Lite was a health-seeking mission in the

Lite's arguments and Luck's optimism and, finally, the assurance of the sheriff that Luck was not under arrest and was in no danger of it, to keep the

out for Annie, while you're in town. She's gone-and the dog and all her clothes and everything. Maybe sh

eoccupation the mews came wi

was simply awful. So we rode in to town after the mail, and when we came back she was gone, bag and baggage. We

it was to seek, not the beaten cashier who had accused him, but the ticket agent at the depot, and t

formation whatever. But a Sioux squaw in Albuquerque would be as noticeable as a Hindoo. Pueblos, Navajos-they may come and go unnoticed because of their numbers. But an Indian of another tribe and style of dress would b

s soon as he learned that the red automobile had gone up Silver Street and turned south on Fourth. By the time Luck reached the bank Miguel came loping back with the news that the red machine had crossed the l

who bad also driven the machine, was a certain chauffeur of colorless personality and an unsavory reputation among other drivers; and that the

he was not at all sure of the voice which talked with him over the phone; indeed, now when he heard luck speak, he felt extremely doubtful of the similarity of that other voice. He protested against being blamed for being too confiding. He had never dreamed, he said, that anyone co

head with self-pitying tenderness. In the street Luck turned to the sheriff as though

now is to swear Applehead and me in as deputies-and any of the boys that want to come along and help round up that bunch. We'll do it, if it's to be done at all. I feel I kind of owe

you don't mind telling?" Hank Miller

ry straight west, and not so much as a telegraph pole! Mighty few service stations for the machine, too, when you think of it-and rough countr

ly. "Them Navvies are plumb snaky, lemme tell yuh. Ain't like the Pueblos-you're taking a risk when yuh ride into the

it 'em comin' and goin'. Why, my shucks! Ef I notched my gun for the Navvies I've got off

heriff informed him bluntly. "They ain't forgot the trip you made over there after Jose Mar

ly. "Ef Luck hits fer the Navvy country after them skunks

ith an outfit, yet tonight, so we can hit the trail as soon as possible. No use for you

d the cook," Andy rebelled instantly. His h

that made deputy sheriffs of them all. He told them that while he did not believe the thieves had gone to the reservation, and would look for them elsewhere, the idea was worth acting upon-seeing they wante

to Luck, as we have occasion to know. He sent some of the boys back to the ranch in a machine, and told them just what to bring back with them in the way of rifles, bedding rolls, extra horses and so on. The horses they had ridden into town he had housed in a livery stable. He took the Native Son and a Mexic

also that he would not expect salary for the time he spent in the chase. He ended by saying tersely, "My reputation and standing of company here at stake," and signed his name in a hasty scrawl that made the oper

l wind crept up the river so that they buttoned their coats when the hoofbeats of the horses sounded hollow on the bridge. Out through the lane that leads to Atrisco, which slept in the stolid blackness of low adobe houses with flat roofs and tiny windows, they rode at a trot. Dogs barked, ran but to the road and ba

er the stars. To the rim-rook line that separated this first mesa from the higher one beyond, Luck himself knew the sand-hills well. But beyond the broken line of hills off to the northwest he had never gone-and

what comfort they could achieve, to doze and wait for dayligh