Part 13 (1/2)
”And after all, it's funny,” said Peggy Blackton ”There!” she cried suddenly ”Isn't _that_ funny?”
The glare and noisy life were on both sides of the From up the street came the softer strains of a piano, and froy Blackton was pointing to a brilliantly lighted, black-tarpaulined shop Huge white letters on its front announced that Lady Barbers ithin They could see two of theAnd they were pretty The place was croith e a dollar for a haircut and fifty cents for a shave,”
explained Peggy Blackton ”And thebroke because he can't get business at fifteen cents a shave _Isn't_ it funny?”
As they went on Aldous searched the street for Quade Several times he turned to the back seat, and always he found Joanne's eyes questing in that strange way for the so out lighted places, and explaining things as they passed, but he knew that in spite of her apparent attention Joanne heard only a part of what she was saying In that crowd she hoped--or feared--to find a certain face And again Aldous told himself that it was not Quade's face
Near the end of the street a croas gathering, and here, for a moment, Blackton stopped his team within fifty feet of the objects of attraction A sli silk was standing beside a huge brown bear Her sleek black hair, shi+ning as if it had been oiled, fell in curls about her shoulders Her rouged lips were s Even at that distance her black eyes sparkled like dia up a collection, for she was fastening the cord of a silken purse about her neck In another moment she bestrode the bear, the crowd fell apart, and as the onlookers broke into a roar of applause the big beast lumbered slowly up the street with its rider
”One of Culver Rann's friends,” said Blackton _sotto voce_, as he drove on
”She takes in a hundred a night if she makes a cent!”
[Illustration: A sli silk was standing beside a huge brown bear In anotherbeast lu bungaloas close to the engineers' cahted street and the hundreds of tents and shacks that made up the residential part of the town Not until they were inside, and Peggy Blackton had disappeared with Joanne for a few moments, did Aldous take old Donald MacDonald's note from his pocket He pulled out the quill, unfolded the bit of paper, and read the few crudely written words the mountain man had sent him Blackton turned in ti the note in his hand, Aldous looked at the other, his
”You must help me e to them if I do not stay for supper But--it is iet to him”
Hishim to remain The contractor stared at hi harder and ,” he said ”If you want o with you, Aldous----”
”Thanks That will be unnecessary”
Peggy Blackton and Joanne were returning Aldous turned toward them as they entered the room With the note still in his hand he repeated to them what he had told Blackton--that he had received hich o to MacDonald He shook hands with the Blacktons, pro to be on hand for the four o'clock breakfast
Joanne followed him to the door and out upon the veranda For a moment they were alone, and now her eyes ide and filled with fear as he clasped her hands closely in his own
”I saw hi convulsively ”I saw that man--Quade--at the station He followed us up the street Twice I looked behind--and saw hio back there I believe he is sohtened, tre eyes, in her throbbing breath, in the clasp of her fingers, sent through John Aldous a joy that almost made him free her hands and crush her in his ary Blackton and her husband appeared in the door He released her hands, and stepped out into the gloohts of the Blacktons followed hi hione, filled with their entreaty and their fear
A hundred yards distant, where the trail split to lead to the caineers, there was a lantern on a pole Here Aldous paused, out of sight of the Blackton bungalow, and in the diain MacDonald's note
In a craible hand the old wanderer of the o to cabin Culver Rann waiting to kill you Don't show yorself in town cu north to Loon Lake Watch yorself Be ready with yor gun
DONALD MacDONALD
Aldous shoved the note in his pocket and slipped back out of the lantern-glow into deep shadow For several
CHAPTER XI
As John Aldous stood hidden in the darkness, listening for the sound of a footstep, Joanne's words still rang in his ears ”I believe he is out there--waiting for you,” she had said; and, chuckling softly in the glooive him more satisfaction than an immediate and material proof of her fear In the present moment he felt a keen desire to confront Quade face to face out there in the lantern-glow, and settle with the mottled beast once for all The fact that Quade had seen Joanne as the guest of the Blacktons hardened hier be in possible error regarding her He knew that she had friends, and that she was not of the kind who could be ame and Culver Rann's If he followed her after this----