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.We have done what we could for our fellowmen.We have not failed, for though we perish, yet our blood shall fructify what we have sown, that our sons and our sons' sons may reap the garnered grain.Gentlemen, of the Junta, I declare our meeting adjourned!"Starr's eyes were troubled, but his gun did not waver.It pointed straight at the breast of Holman Sommers, who looked at him measuringly when he had finished speaking."I can't argue about the idea back of this business," Starr said gravely."All I can do is my duty.Put on these handcuffs, Mr.Sommers.They stand for something you ain't big enough to lick—yet.""Certainly," said Holman Sommers composedly."You put the case like a philosopher.Like a philosopher I yield to the power which, I grant you, we are not big enough to lick—yet.In behalf of our Cause, however, permit me to call your attention to the fact that we might have come nearer to victory, had you not discovered and interrupted this meeting to-night." Though his face was paler than was natural, he slipped on the manacles as matter-of-factly as he would have put on clean cuffs, and rose from his chair prepared to go where Starr directed."No, sit down again," said Starr brusquely."Sheriff, gather up all those pieces of paper for evidence against these men, and give them to me.Give me a receipt for the men—I'll wait for it.I want you and Chief Whittier to hold them here in this room till I come back.I won't be long—half an hour, maybe." He took the slips of paper which the sheriff folded and handed to him, and slipped them into his pocket.He was gone a little longer than he said, for he had some trouble in locating the railroad official he wanted, and in convincing that sleepy official that he was speaking for the government when he demanded an engine and day coach to be placed on a certain dark siding he mentioned, ready for a swift night run to El Paso and a little beyond—to Fort Bliss, in fact.He got it, trust Starr for that! And he was only twenty minutes behind the time he had named, though the sheriff and the chief of police betrayed a nervous relief when he walked in upon them and announced that he was ready now to move the prisoners.They untied the terrified watchman and added him to the group.In the dark, and by way of vacant lots and unlighted streets, he took them to a certain point where an engine had just backed a single, unlighted day coach on to a siding and stood there with air-pump wheezing and the engineer crawling around beneath with his oil can.By the rear steps of the coach a mystified conductor stood waiting with his lantern hidden under his coat.A big man was the conductor; once a policeman and therefore with a keen nose—don't laugh!—for mysteries.He wore a satisfied look when he saw the men that were being hustled into the car.His uniform tightened as he swelled with the importance of his mission.He nodded to Sheriff O'Malley and the chief of police, cast an obliquely curious glance at Starr, who stayed on the ground, and when Starr gave the word he swung his lantern to the watching fireman, and caught the handrail beside the steps."Fort Bliss it is; and there won't nothing stop us, buh-lieve me!" he muttered confidentially to Starr, whom he recognized only as the man who stood behind the mystery.The engine began to creep forward, and he swung up to the lower step."We may go in the ditch or something; but we'll get there, you listen to me!""Go to it, and good luck," said Starr, but there was no heartiness in his voice.He stood with his thumbs hooked inside his gun-belt and watched the coach that held the peace of the country within its varnished walls go sliding out of the yard, its green tail lights the only illumination anywhere behind the engine.When it had clicked over the switch and was picking up speed for its careening flight south through the cool hours of early morning, he gave a sigh that had no triumph in it, and turned away toward his cabin."Well, there goes the revolution," he said somberly to himself."And here I go to do the rest of the job; and alongside what I've got to do, hell would be a picnic!"CHAPTER TWENTY-TWOSTARR TAKES ANOTHER PRISONERWith a slip of paper in his pocket that would have gone a long way toward clearing Helen May, had he only taken the trouble to look at it, Starr rode out in the cool early morning to Sunlight Basin.He looked white and worn, and his eyes were sunken and circled with the purple of too little sleep and too much worry, for in the three days since he had seen her, Starr had not been able to forget his misery once in merciful sleep.Only when he was busy with capturing the Junta had he lost for a time the keen pain of his hurt.Now it was back like an aching tooth set going again with cold water or sweets.He tried to make himself think that he hated Helen May, and that a girl of that type—a girl who could lend herself to such treachery—could not possibly win from him anything but a pitying contempt.He told himself over and over again that he was merely sore because a girl had "put something over on him"; that a man hated to have a woman make a fool of him.He tried to gloat over the fact that he had found her out before she had any inkling of how he felt toward her; he actually believed that! He tried not to wince at the thought of her at Fort Bliss, a Federal prisoner, charged with conspiring against the government.She must have known the risk she took, he kept telling himself.The girl was no fool, was way above the average in intelligence.That was why she had appealed to him; he had felt the force of her personality, the underlying strength of her character that had not harshened her outward charm, as strength so often does for a woman.That was the worst of it.Had she been weak she would never have mixed with any political conspiracy; they would not have wanted her, for intrigue has no place for weaklings.But had she been weak she would never have attracted Starr so deeply, however innocent she might have been.So his reasoning went round and round in a circle, until he was utterly heartsick with no hope of finding peace.There was one thing he could do: it would be tightening the screws of his torture, but he meant to do it for her sake.He would take her to Fort Bliss himself, shielding her from publicity and humiliation; and he would take charge of Vic, and see that the kid did not suffer too much on account of his sister.He would make a man of Vic; he never guessed that he was taking up mentally the burden which Peter had laid upon Helen May.He believed there was good stuff in that kid, and with the right handling he would come out all right.He would put in a plea to his chief for leniency toward the girl too.He would say that she was young and inexperienced and that Holman Sommers had probably drawn her into his scheme—Starr could see how that might easily be—and that her health was absolutely dependent upon open air.They couldn't keep her shut up long; a girl could not do much harm, if the rest of the bunch was convicted.Maybe the lesson and the scare would be all she needed to pull her back into lawful living.She was not a hardened adventuress; why, she couldn't be much over twenty-one or two! After a while, when she had straightened up, maybe …So Starr thought and thought, fighting to keep a little hope alive, to see a little gleam of light in the blackness of his soul.His head bent, his eyes staring unseeingly at the yellow-brown dust of the trail, he rode along unconscious of everything save the battle raging fiercely within.He did not know what pace Rabbit was taking; he even forgot that he was on Rabbit's back
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