Activate Javascript or update your browser for the full Digital Library experience.
Next Page
OCR
( .
bs an
21, 1903. SINCLE COPIES 5 CENTS.- | :
son
re
1 AAO ate R
ITHE ROMERO DAGGER:
or, THE CANYON DIABLO MYSTERY.
beg gemstone Pg
Re -. By Hattie Horner Louthan.
: - he , ~ hi his fact added 1 zest t great chair, the y f the t a
wae ". D. Boyve Co.] + ing train, flinging a parting quip at the his, and this fact added personal zest to pro- eat chair, the younger of the two grand-
7 i " called- fessional zeal in ferreting out this mysteri- daughters, Carma, seated on a low stool be-
. Lieutenant: upon his anxiety for uncalled y Siventere, Carma, reated oni a low stool be-
CHAPTER I. +‘ s for exertion, Their leader had thrown back
’ When Detective Edward Jerrold reported «some laughing reply, waved his hand to his
tan hour before his de-- friends as he began the sharp descent of the
West, his chief, for the sev- chasm and—that was the last they ever saw
y f him.
s im that
/ Santa Fe could be found one or the privates formed limbs stretched along the swinging
iablo; 80 t not fur away was the ever-.
n0
peo
5
i a Fe was Jerrold bound to interview present chaperone, Senora Dolores, with her
Ay d create this soldier, to get possession of the late ever-present and never-finished drawnwork,
he Canon Diablo - His non-appearance at supper had created “Ti tchant's belongings, papers and what . Senor Romero, the . a
to discover an enemy and a sWarthy face with fine chissical features, to ‘
=
z
Z
&
5
2
3
g
=
Gy
z
2
5
z
®
z
;
ne
=
3
*
g
z
£
e
5
r
z
2
2
taken to solve," ~ . geologist. he might have lingered for spec- which i vow Pach te
Canon Diablo, or Devil's Canon, 1s @ huge imens, or that he might haye made a longer Motive. . . @ crown of white hair gave a nS
fissure, a volcanic gash in the surface of detour in his search to avoid the extreme «5 Te mess through {his private (hat the de- ae lofty noble nean: and there was some- ae
eastern Arizona, some five hundred and@ fifty - steepness of the western slope t Mad. Deete ae olekette PAE ty ead Rene even hn Bleep Chat tees an c re
ot wide. more than two hundred feet deep | pri at When night passed and morn- had been a pleasure party encamped hear even In sleep that bespoke an unusual Vigor.
. _ . ° om = veyor . in the hiammoc! re a
and many miles in length. Over this g came, and still no Tieutenant. it ¥as soldiers, a small party of ladies and gentle- strong resemblance to his elder, though the
D
“hasi e Atl ee s s 2 Hen hi :
eee ae ee eee e te crar Certain that some mishap had befaben nim men returning to Santa Fe by leisurely ‘relationship was but slight. ‘The reseme
tem, had, but a short time previous to the ‘extended through the several days of their stages from what’ had been an extended oe Tite tee uced te ihe ateng strength
‘Sterious . disappearance ~ 0} feutenant . sta: Chief among this party had been a Span- and the thick black hair of Manuel Romero.
Revertey, flung its spider-regged bridge; an The
it was during a meeting of the advance luctance, yet acknowledging the futility of s
: ; z randdaughters, his grand-nephew and
construction train and<the returning sur- further search. Nothing short of death SPanes " is family sway :
: \ prone of the ladles. With this family swaying hammock and t
veyors that the affair in question had oc- - could so long detain their leader. To one 80 Tjeutenant Beverley had beet om terns of evidenced indolence, yet there noe ee eade
curred. coy Ay , ‘young and strong. what was a scramble of comparative intimacy, having become ac- nervous alertness that characteriz al
. With the surveying party wis @ small de- . five or six hundred feet? And once up and Guainted with them in Santa Fe. After ase titude of the elder, and you fei tieeinee
* tachment of cavalry from the military. fort ‘out of the canon, how could he lose his way sisting with the search this party had ively that neither was a man to be trifled
at Santa Fe, New Mexico, under Lieutenant ‘to camp on the level expanse of eastern Ari- }roken camp, and. makin C ith. . ° wate
Frank Beverley, a fragment. of one of the xoua? Had he met death? At whose hands? to the north, continued their journey toward _ Carma Romero, despite the Spanish name, 3
companies sent out upon the report of a .The Indians of the vicinity were peaceful Santa Fe, the home of the Homeros. had not a Spanish feature. Senor Romero,
suspicious restlessness among some of the enough: the native herdsmen were harm- “yes, Jerrold told himself, he must meet himself boasting pure Castillan blood, had .
Indians of the Southwest.: : : jess; and, besides, what motive? He had this Private Gilman, and through him these married one o
~ The little party of soldiers and surveyors ,carried nothing of value, and a thorough Romeros, No stone should be left unturned kinswoman, in fact, but their
arty left the place with great ree ish gentleman, Senor Romero, his two Although his long dark lashes had di
2
ae
had halted for the afternoon and made their ‘search through pueblos and camps and and no one spared in solving thi ther, e f
~ _gamp near the western rim, though they wagons of the neighborhood revealed not "thus grimly concluded the detectiecend, pathghs had chosen an American girl to rule
. had been some two weeks in the vicinity of “the slightest trace of his belongings. soot. i vai motion of own daughter, blu
the canon and the neighboring pueblos. - Again, if he had met death at the bottom the train, he put a drowsy period to his con- slender to feailness, ‘This
Late on this particular afternoon, Lieu- of the gloomy chasm wheré trickled the lit- clusions, ~ cate health, together
tenant Beverley and’ two comrades had ‘tle stream, too clear and tog shallow at that the mother whom she so m
walked from camp across the bridge and time of year to conceal or to carry off the- + ——— made Carma the favorite
half a mile beyond to the little village of ‘remains, where was the body? Not the CHAPTER II. grandfather, as sh
ts x cars, returning on ‘slightest clue could be found, though the On the eastern outskirt of sleepy, sunny. cedes, some five years h .
uction train. They alighted when | canon was explored carefully for half a mile old Santa Fe, out of hearing of even the Her clinging, dependent disposition had
sed.on the eastern side; just |above and half a mile below the Fallroad “drowsy droning of the so-called business life made her gran
it had been
L idxe, and bridge. : Small wonder that ‘of the town, stood a large, comfortable resi- «s to her disposal matrimonially, and while
nant, apparently following a sud- : termed a mystery’ and turned over to the dence built after the Spanish fashion around the three were yet childre ee
ay nounced that he would cross «detective force! : ‘a roomy central court wherein a fountain Old World notions still biasing him, selec
oot, and that he would join ;- Edward Jerrold sat in the last Pullman of | played and flowers bloomed. tarmi ~
them at the camp ‘supper,’ As -it; was a :the west-bound Santa -Fe “flyer, revolving | In the wide piazza surrounding this pla- . representative of his branch of
Warm afternoon, neither of his companions for the hundredth time the meager details ‘cita, or.inner court, In the cool of a eum- had made the Selection despite the very
Yolunteered to avcompany him, and they on wh e to work, Lieutenant Bev. x sat several members of the parent preference of that young man for
returned to the caboose of the already mov erley had been a classmate and friend of , Romero family; the old Senor dozing in a the elder sister,
Ap