Bloom of Cactus

in before the heave of Carmena's shoulder. Elsie peeped fearf

that somehow reminded him of his laboratory experiments in college. A step nearer, with his own and Carmena's candles upraised, gave hi

n Carmena gave hi

see

you've been talking about-it's

brought the thing into the Hole and forced Dad to run it. He

a Federal penit

'll swear that Dad is just as guilty. Yo

nnon; but he l

s face w

no telling what Cochise would have d

, ready for lighting. Carmena knelt down before it and dipped her hand into the Indian basket. One after the other,

at him, grav

nt this whole thing fixed so it wil

on

re-- Can you fix it so it will go off a q

hat you going to do? You know

. If Jack does what I want, there'll be no more

the girl with rekindled admirat

he remarked. "Will it not be dangerous-I

it. I'll do the work and take all blame-if it fails. You can go

ting on the trail, she had jeered him into cutting across the d

ended out in a rough platform that held the water-cooled vat of the condensation worm. From the two-foot space between t

on used three pieces of fuse, which were attached with caps to the sticks of dynamite, in the bottom of the hole. He

ds, no slightest sign was left to betray th

ut for fifteen seconds, and they will star

ueried Carmena. "Your dynamite is out from u

t her ignorance

l be a hole in the floor, a good deal of shattered stone, and some splinters an

a fever chill, but pulled herself

he others, scrutinizing the floor to make certa

she cautioned. "Promise

with Slade and Cochise to measure the mash-And you k

take care of Dad?"

re her, his gray ey

But I have told you the dynamite will destroy everything in the room. If you scheme t

You promis

t would be cold-

that when

gnant protest and gazed

nd Cochise apart?" she inquired. "Suppose I make eac

will explode the charg

's eyes

we blew it up now, Slade will put the blame on us-- Tell you what-I'll

u will not try to get h

es

ennon to cover her from above with his rifle while she went down to milk the goats. He

f the hoist rope. Though there was no sign of an Indian nearer than the corral and she smile

o an embrazured window in the living room. He looked down and saw her calmly walking away toward the goat p

razier. After a time, when her pots were simmering

n heartfelt contentment. "Mena is-is the best sister in all the whole w

shoulder. He reached across and stroked her s

ou know, Carmena brought me to hel

d Dad won't ever give up the Hole, 'cause he said so. Th

n chu

ng after the Apac

e 'Pache. She shot your hat off and your burro to see how you'd behave,

uck Lennon as just so mu

reement. "Only, by the way, w

why did s

ve-dollar sombrero an

him she'd get another man into the Basin to be caught and made to pay. But she p

. "Wonderful flight of fa

illed all that part of the bunch, Mena would have brought

th the burro. But why, then

layful to

ignalled Cochise you went and got bit by the Gila monst

slip! I was beginning to fancy you quite a consistent fairy-tale tinker, Blossom. Take

t what you call s

ture of the puffs of smoke rising into the noontime desert

he had taken it for pure fiction. Yet every seeming absurdity in Elsie's account beca

anged from boots to moccasins, which he now knew to be of Apache style, if not of Apache make. They would account for the moccasin print behind the crag from whi

d fight. No less clear, now, was the subtle manner in which she had both spurred his daring with her derision and appealed to his chivalry for prot

o have her savage accomplices capture him and hold him for ransom? The game might well have i

Whatever he might think of Carmena, this child-minded girl at least was absolutely

rship of her father in the illicit making and bootlegging of moonshine whiskey had prevented her from appealing to the law for protect

s aid? Instead of that straightforward, above-board procedure, she had risked shooting him, had deceived him, had led him into a trap where he would have had to kill all the bronchos or be killed.

fle, he might have out-fought Cochise and his followers. But that was not the rub. Carmena had treated him as a b

But she had not trusted him. The accident of the Gila monster's bite alone had blocked her s

ere was the chance that he could be used in the Hole. That would account for the seeming devotion and self-sa

for her difficult position. Had it not been for her relationship to that weak-faced besotted moonshiner, Lennon might have stopped to consider how love fo

e sheriff-and she loved her father. But Lennon cou