Rancho Del Muerto and Other Stories of Adventure from «Outing» by Various Authors

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Various. Rancho Del Muerto and Other Stories of Adventure from «Outing» by Various Authors

RANCHO DEL MUERTO, By Charles King, Capt. U. S. Army

FIRST PART

SECOND CHAPTER

A MIGHTY HUNTER BEFORE THE LORD, By Virginius Dabney

FIRST PART

SECOND PART

A CAHUTTA VALLEY SHOOTING MATCH, By Will N. Harben

MOERAN’S MOOSE – A HUNTING STORY, By Ed. W. Sandys

THE MYSTERY OF A CHRISTMAS HUNT, By Talbot Torrance

HERNE THE HUNTER, By William Perry Brown

UNCLE DUKE’S “B’AR” STORY, By Lillian Gilfillan

A CIGARETTE FROM CARCINTO, By Edward French

ANTAEUS, By Frank M. Bicknell

WHICH MISS CHARTERIS? By C. G. Rogers

THE BEAR ‘S-HEAD BROOCH, By Ernest Ingersoll

MISS GWYNNE’S BURGLAR, By Violet Etynge Mitchell

THE LADY IN ROUGE, By W. E. P. French

THE BREAKING OF WINTER, By Patience Stapleton

CYNTHY’S JOE, By Clara Sprague Ross

Отрывок из книги

NO denying it – there was something uncanny about the place at the very first glance. The paymaster admitted that to himself as his ambulance slowly drove in, and his escort of half a dozen troopers came clattering after. It was his first visit to the spot, and he shrugged his broad shoulders and murmured a word of caution to the silent clerk who sat beside him:

“I want you to keep eyes and ears open here, Staines. We’ve got to make a night of it. You remember that this is where Sergeant Dinsmore was murdered, and I’ve heard nothing but bad accounts of the people for the last six months.”

.....

Six months passed, during which period he had been sent to Tucson on escort duty, and while there had sought and found some well-to-do Mexican residents whom he remembered as being friends of the graceful girl who had danced so delightfully with him at the baile only the year before. From them he learned her name, Isabel, and something of her history. And the very next scout down the Gila found him in command and eager to go, and this very night, black and forbidding, that had settled down on Rancho Ruiz after the arrival of Paymaster Sherrick and his train, who should come riding noiselessly through the gloaming but Lieutenant Adriance himself, as before, all alone.

Nearing the lights of the rancho and moving at slow and cautious walk, his ears alert for every sound, the lieutenant became aware of the fact that Roderick, his pet horse, was pricking up his own ears and showing vast interest in some mysterious and unseen presence which they were steadily approaching. Before he had got within two hundred yards of the dim light of the house he caught sight of a lantern or two flitting about the corral. Then Roderick quickened his nimble walk and began edging off to the right front, where presently, against the low western sky, Adriance could distinguish some object like a big covered wagon, and plainly heard the pawing and snorting of a horse. Roderick evidently wanted to answer, but the lieutenant reined him abruptly to the left, and veered away southward.

.....