HEART
o/'tha
sumt
r&? REX BEACn
Author of “The Spoilers, ” “ The Iron Trail, ”
“ The Stiver Horde," Etc.
*9 H+ >*• « l«im
SYNOPSIS.
CHAPTER I—Set afoot and alone by an
accident in the desert near the Rio Grande
Mrs. Alaire Austin, mistress of Las Pal
Mas and IOl Feria ranches, meets Lave
Law Texas Ranger, at a water hole and
is compelled to spend the night theie with
him, as he is in ambush for a murderer
and cannot leave his post.
CHAPTER II—Next day at evening the
murderer appears with a companion.
With bridle rein and carbine in his
left hand, the ranger halted, then,
stooping for Auto's discarded cartridge
belt, he looped it over his saddle-horn.
He Vaulted easily into the scat, say
ing :
“I hid that mare pretty well. Your
man may not be able to find iter." Then
he turned his borrowed horse’s head
toward the brush.
Auto had squatted motionless until *
this moment; lie hud not even turned
his eyes; hut now, without the slight- j
est warning, he littered a loud call.
It might have served equally well as a
summons or us an alarm, hut il
changed the ranger’s suspicions into
certainty. Dave uttered an angry ex
clamation, then to the startled woman
he cried:
“Watch this man! He can’t hurt
you, for I’ve got his shells." To hN j
prisoner lie said, sharply: "Stay where
you are! Don’t move!” The next in ,
slant he had loped into the brush on
the tracks of I’uuiilo Sanchez, spurring
flip tired gray pony into vigorous ac
tion.
It was an uncomfortable situation m ;
which Alaire now found herself. Law j
was too suspicious, silo murmured to
herself; he was needlessly melodra
matic; she felt exceedingly ill at ease
as the pony’s hoof-beats grew fainter.
She was startled by hearing other hoof
beats now; their drumming came faint
but unmistakable. Yes, there were two !
horses racing down tin* arroyo. Auto ;
the fugitive, rose to lii.s feet and stared j
Into the dusk.
‘‘Sit down!” Alaire ordered, sharp
ly. He obeyed, muttering beneath his
brenth, but lit* head was turned as If
In an effort to follow the sounds of the
pursuit.
Next came the distant rattle of
loosened stones—evidently one horse
was being urged toward.the open high j
ground—then the peaceful quiet eve- j
ning was split by the report of Law’s i
thirty-thirty. Another shot followed,
and then a third. Both Alaire and her j
prisoner were on their feet, the woman j
shaking in every limb, the Mexican .
straining ills eyes into the gloom and
listening intently. .
Alaire had begun to feel the strnin of !
the situation and \vas«trying to decide
what next to do, when David Law
came riding out of the twilight. He
was astride the gray; behind him at
the end of a lariat was Bessie Belle,
and her saddle was empty.
Mrs. Austin uttered a sharp cry.
Law dismounted and strode to the
prisoner. His face was black with
fury; he seemed gigantic in tiis rage, j
Without a word he raised his right
hand and cuffed the Mexican to his
knees. Then he leaped upon him, as
a dog might pounce upon a rabbit,
rolled him to his face, and twisted the
fellow's arm into the small of his back.
Anto cursed, in* struggled, hut he was
like a child in the ranger’s grasp. Law
knelt upon him, and with a jerk of ids
riata secured the fellow's wrists; ris
ing, he set the knot with another heave
that dragged the prisoner to his knees.
Next he hooted Anto to his feet.
“I’ve a notion to bend a gun over
your head,” Law growled. “Clever lit
tle game, wasn’t it?”
“Where—? Did you—kill nun; mo
woman gasped.
Alaire had never beheld such a
demoninc expression as Law turned
upon her. The man’s face was con
torted, his eyes were blazing insanely,
his chest was heaving, and for an in
stant he seemed to include her in his
anger. Ignoring her inquiry, he went
to his mare and ran his shaking hands
over her ns if in search of an injury;
his questioning palms covered every
inch of glistening hide from forelock
to withers, from shoulder to hoof, and
under cover of this task he regained in
some degree his self-eontroi.
“That honibre of yours—didn't look
right to me,” he said, finally. Laying
his cheek against Bessie Belle’s neck,
ns a woman snuggles close to the man
of her choice. In* addressed the mare:
“I reckon nobody is going to steal you,
* eh? Not if I know it. No, sir; that
hotnbre wasn't any good, was he?"
Alaire wet her lips. “Then you—
shot him?”
“I didn’t say I shot him,” he told her,
gruffly. “I warned him first, and lie
turned on me—blew smoke in my facq.
Then he took to the brush, afoot, and—
I cut down on him ouce more to help
him along.”
“lie got away?”
“I reckon so."
“Oh, oh!” Alaire’s tone left no
doubt of her relief. “He was always a
good man—”
“UyotL? L>K!u’t he steal my Uox?e2
Hidn't ho nini to jr«*t mo at the first
chance and free liis compadre? Tliat's
why lie wanted his Winchester. Say!
1 reckon lie—needs killin’ about as
much as anybody I know.”
“I can’l understand it.” Alain* sat
down weakly. “One of my men, too.”
"This fellow behaved himself while ]
was gone. eh?” Law jerked his head
in Ante's direction. "I was afraid In'
—he'd try something. If hi' had—”
Such a possibility, oddly enough,
seemed to choke the speaker, and tie'
ferocity of his unfinished thivnf caused
Mrs. Austin to look tip at him curious
ly. There was a moment of silence,
then he said, shortly: "Well, we’ve
got a horse apiece now. Let's go.”
The s’tars had thickened and bright
ened, rounding the night sky into a
.glittering dome. Auto, the murderer. 1
with his ankles lashed beneath his,
horse's belly, rode first ; next, in a sub
h n silence, came the ranger, his chin
upon his breast; and in the rear fol
lowed Alain* Austin.
I'nder the stars, at the break of the
arroyo, three hundred yards be! fw the
water hole, a coyote was slinking in a
wide circle around the body of I’anfilo
Sanchez.
CHAPTER IV.
At Las Palmas.
Although the lower counties of
southwest Texas are flat and badly
watered, they possess n rich soil. They
are favored, too, by a kindly climate,
subtropic in its mildness. The Rio
Grande, jaundiced, erratic1 us an in
valid. wrings its saffron blood from the
clay bluffs and gravel canyons of the '■
hill country, but near its estuary winds
quietly through a low coastal plain
which the very impurities of that blood
have ricliened. Here the river's banks
are smothered in thickets of huisachc.
ebony, mesquite, oak and alamo.
Railroads are so scarce along this
division of tin* border that to travel
from Brownsville north along the in
ternational line one must, for several
hundred miles, avail oneself of horses,
tatties or motorcars, since rail transpor
tation is almost lucking. And on his
way the traveler will traverse whole
counties where the houses are jurats,
where English is a foreign tongue, and
where peons plow their fields with
■’rooked sticks as did the ancient
Egyptians.
That part of the state which lies
below the Nueces river was for it time
disputed territory, and long after Tex
tins had given their lives to drive the
eagle of Mexico across the Rio Grande
much of it remained a forbidden land.
Even today it is alien. It is a part of }
our Southland, but a South different j
to any other that we have. Within it
there are no blacks, and yet (lie whites
number hut one in twenty. The rest
are swarthy, lilac*-haired men who
speak the Spanish tongue and whose
citizenship is mostly a matter of form, i
The stockmen, pushing ahead of tic
testers and the tillers of the soij, were
the first to invade the lower Rio
Grande, and among these “Old Ed"
Austin was a pioneer. Like the other
cattle barons, lie was hungry for laud
and took it whore or how he could.
Those were crude old days; the pio
neers who pushed their herds into the
far pastures were lawless fellows, ruth
less, acquisitive, mastered by flu* em
pire-builder's urge for acres and still
more acres.
As other ranches grew under t ii«j
hands nf such unregenerate owners, so j
also under “old Kd” Austin's nianago
ment did Las Palmas increase and
prosper. It comprised an expanse ot
rich river-land hacked by miles ot
range where “Box A” cattle lived and
hied. In his later years when the old
man handed Las l’almas to his son,
“Young Ed,” as a wedding gift, the
ranch was known far and wide for its
size and richness. Las Palmas had ^
changed greatly since Austin, senior,
painfully scrawled his slanting signa
ture to the deed. It was a different
much now to what the old man had
known; indeed, it was •doubtful if he
would have recognized it. for even tin
house was new,
Alaire had some such thought in
mind as she rode tip to the gate on
the afternoon following her departure
from the water hole, and she felt a
thrill of pride at the acres of sjiroutliu
corn, the dense green field of alfalfa
so nicely fitted between their fences.
They were like clean, green squares of
matting spread for the feet of summer.
A Mexicaiuboy came running to care
for her horse, -a Mexican woman greet
ed her as she entered the wide, cool
hall and went to her room. Dolores
fixed a hath nndjnid out clean clothes
with a running accompaniment of chat
ter concerned with household affairs
She was a great gossip, and possessed
such a talent for gaining information
that through her husband, Benito, the
range boss, she was aide to keep her
mistress in fairly intimate touch with
ranch matters.
Alaire. as she leisurely dressed her
self, acknowledged that it was good to
f*'ol the physical comforts of her own
house, even though her homecoming
gave her no especial joy. She made il '
a religious practice to dress for dinner,
regardless of Ed's presence, though
often for weeks at a time* she sat in
solitary state, presiding over on empty
table. Tonight, Ed was at home. Il
was with a grave preoccupation that
she made herself ready to meet him.
In the dining room, Ed acknowl
edged his wife’s entrance with a cure
less nod, hut did not trouble to re
move ids hands from his pockets. As
he seated himself heavily at the table
and wit It unsteady fingers shook tile
folds from his napkin, he said;
“Yon stayed longer than you intend
ed. I'm-rn—you were gone three days,
weren’t you?”
“Four days,” Alaire told him. real
izing with n little inward start how
very far apart she and Ed had drifted.
She looked tit him curiously for an in
stant, wondering if lie really could la
her husband, or—if he were not some
peculiarly disagreeable stranger.
lal had been a handsome boy, hut he
was growing fat from drink and soft
from idleness; his face was too full.
I >s eyes too sluggish; there was an
mii:;!lhy redness in his cheeks. In
contrast to Ids wife’s semi-forma!
dress, lie was unkempt—unshaven and
soiled. Ills preparations for dinner
ibis evening had been characteristically
simple; he had drunk three dry cock
tails and thing his sombrero into a cor
ner. ,
“I've been busy while you were
pone.” he announced. “Been down to
die pump bouse every day laying that
new intake. It was a nasty job. too.
I bad Morales barbecue a cabrlto for
l ty lunch, ami it was good, but I’m
hungry again.” Austin attacked his
meal with an enthusiasm strange in
him. lie was a heavy and a constant
drinker at all times. What little ex
ercise lie took was upon the back of a
horse, and, .as no one knew belter than
Ids wife, the physical powers he once
had were rapidly deteriorating.
B.v and by be inquired, vaguely :j
“Bet s see. . . . Where did you go
this time?”
"I went up to look over the Ygnaclo
tract.”
"<)h. yes. Think you'll lease it?”
”1 don't know. 1 must find some
place for those I.a Keriu cattle.”
Austin shook his head. “Better leave
'em where they are. until the rebels
take that country. I stand mighty well
with them.”
"That s the trouble,” Alaire told
him. “You statu! too well—so well
that I want to get my stock out of
federal territory as soon ns possible.”
Kd shrugged carelessly. “Suit your
self; they're your cows.”
The meal went on with a desultory
flow of small talk, during winch tlm
husband indulged his thirst freely.
Alaire told him about the accident
to her horse and the unpleasant ordeal
she had suffered in the mesqulte.
“Lucky you found somebody at the
\utcr hole,” Ed commented. “Win
was this ranger? Never heard of the
fellow," he commented on the name.
The rangers are nothing like they
sed to be.”
“This fellow would do credit to any
irgunization." As Alaire described
low expeditiously Law had made his
■nest and bundled his man, her hus
uind showed interest.
“Nicolas Auto, eh?” said he. “Who
,vas Ills companero?”
"Banfilo Sanchez.” •
Ed started. “That’s strange! They
mist lutvo met accidentally.”
“So they In.tit declared. Why did
von let Banfilo go?"
“We didn't need him here, and lie
was too good a man to lose, so—” Ed
0
II
“Who Was This Ranger?"
found his wife's eyes fixed upon him,
and dropp' d his own. “I know you
were short-handed it I Iai I’eriu." There
was un interval of silence. lhen Kd
exeltiimt th testily, “What are you look
ing ut ?"
"I wondered what you’d say.”
"I'll? Can't 1 tire a man without a
long-winded explanation? .lust because
I’ve let you run things to suit your
self—”
“Walt! We had our understanding.”
Alaire’s voice was low and vibrant.
"It was my p- vnient for living with
you, and you know it. You gave me
lie reins to Las Palmas so that I'd
have something to do, something to
live for and think about, exeept—your
el ions. The raneh has doubled in
value, every penny is accounted for,
• !ld ,_ut Lave more money ty spend
on yourself than ever before. You Imve
no reason to complain.”
Austin crushed his napkin into a l>ail
and flung it from him; with a scowl
lie shoved himself back from the table.
“It was an idiotic arrangement, just
the same. I agreed because 1 was sick.
l>ad thought I was ail shot to pieces,
llut I’m all right now and able to run
m.v own business."
“Nevertheless, it was a bargain, and
it will stand. If your father were alive
he’d make you live up to it.”
“You talk as if 1 were a child.”
shouted her husband; «md his plump
face was apoplectic with rage. “The
title is in my name. Ilow could be
make me do anything?”
“Nobody could force you," his wife
said, quietly. “You are stiil enough of
it man to keep your word. 1 believe, so
long tis 1 observe my part of our bar
gain?”
Ed, slightly mollified, agreed. “Of
course I am; I never welched. Hut
I won’t be treated as an Incompetent,
and I'm tired of these eternal wrangles
and jungles.”
“You have welched.”
“Eli?” Austin frowned belligerently.
“You agreed to go away when you
felt your appetite coming on, and you
promised to live clean, at least around
home.”
“Well?”
.alit 1 lv went o!i in n lifeless tone that
covered the seething emotions within
her. “I never inquire yito your actions
at Sun Antonio or other large cities,
although of course I have ears and I
can't help hearing about them; but
these border towns are home to us,
and people know me. 1 won't be humil
iated more than 1 am; public pity is—
hard enough to hear. I’ve about
reached the breaking point.”
“Indeed?” Austin leaned forward,
ins eyes inflamed. Ilis tone was raised,
h cdless of possible eavesdroppers.
"Then why don’t you end it? Why
duu t you divorce me? 1 never see
anything of you. You have your part
of tile house and I have mine; all we
share iu common is meal hours, and—
and it mail address.”
Alaire turned upon him eyes dark
wiili misery. “You know why 1 don’t
divorce you. No, lid, we’re going to
live out our agreement, and these
Iirownsville episodes are going to
cease.” Iler lips whitened. “So are
your visits to the pumping station.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“You transferred I’anfilo because lie
was growing jealous of you.nnd Rosa.”
Kd burst into sudden laughter.
“There’s no harm in a little* flirtation,
ltosa’s a pretty girl.”
His wife . uttered a breathless,
smothered exclamation; her hands, as
they lay on the table elotli, were tight
ly clenched. “Sues your tenant—al
most your servant. What, kind of a
man are you? Haven't you any de
cency left V”
“Say 1 Go easy ’. 1 guess I'm no dif
ferent to most men.” Austin's unpleas
ant laughter had been succeeded by a
still move unpleasant scowl. “I have
to do something, it's dead enough
around here—”
“You must stop going there.”
“Humph; t notice you go wneri
you please, Kosa and i never spent a
^night together in the chaparral—’’
“Ed!” Alnire's exclamation was like
the snap of a whip. She rose and
fyowl her husband, quivering as if the
lash had stung her flesh.
“That wont home, eh? Well, I'm no
fool! f’ve seen something of the world,
anu I’ve found that women are about
She Rose and Faced Her Husband.
like men. I’d yke to have a look at lids
David Law, this gunman, tills Hand
some Harry who wafts at water holes
for ladies in distress.” Ed ignored his
wife's oulflung hand, and continued,
mockingly: “I’ll hot he’s all that's
manly and splendid, everything that
I’m not.”
“You’d—better stop.” gasped the
woman. “1 can't stand everything."
“So? Well, neither can I.”
“After—tills, I think you’d better
go—to San Antonio. Maybe I’ll forget
before you come hack.”
To this “Young Ed” ntraced quickly
enough. ' <<oodl" said he. “That suits
me. I'll til least get a little peace at
my club.” Tie glowered after his wife
as she left the room. Then, still scowl
ing, he lurched out to the gallery
where the breeze was blowing, and
flung himself into a chair. *
*******
Ed’s marriage to Alnire laid been in
evitable. They had beep playmates,
and their parents hail considered the
union a consummation of their own
lifelong friendship. Upon her mother's
dentil Alain* had been sent abroad, and
there she remained while “Young Ed"
attended an eastern college. For any
child Up* experience would huve beep
a lonesome* one. me! through tt tlie 1
motherless Texas girl had grown into j
fin imaginative, sentimental person, liv
ing in a make-holleve world, peopled,
for the most part, with the best
remembered figures of romance and
tii^ion. There were, of course, some
few llesh-nnd-biood heroes among the
rest, and of these the finest and the
noblest had been “Young Ed” Auttfin.
When she came home to marry,
Alaire was|stlil very much of a child,
unit she still considered Ed her knight.
As for him. he was captivated by this
splendid, handsome girl. whom he re
membered only as a shy, red-headed
little comrade.
As l.as Palmas had been the elder
Austin’s wedding gift to bis son, so
Ahiire’s dowry from tier father had
been T,a Feria. a grant of lands across
the Kio Orunde beyond the twcnty
I ’ague belt by which Mexico fatuously
strives to guard her border. And to
l.as Palmas had come the bride and
groom to live, to love and to rear their
children.
But rarely has there been a shorter
honeymoon, seldom a swifter awaken
ing. Within six months “Young Ed”
had killed tils wife’s love ant? had hlin
si If became an alcoholic. Other vices
so multiplied that what few virtues j
the young man had inherited were (
soon choked. To the bride t lie truth
had come as a stunning tragedy. The
wreck of her hopes and glad imagin
ings left her sick, bewildered, in the
face of “tiie thing that couldn’t.”
Nnr hai! the effect of this transfor
mation in “Young Kd” been any less
painful to his father. When the truth
\\:i< borne iri upon him unmistakably,
au;l the girl-wife remained firm in her
refusal to divorce her husband, the un
derstanding had been reached by
vfilch the management of Las Palmas
was placed absolutely in her hands.
Of course the truth became public,
as it always does. “Young Kd” Aus
tin's fife became a scorn and a hissing j
among his neighbors. They were hot |
unduly fastidious, these neighbors, and
they knew that hot blood requires more i
than a generation to eool, hut every
thing Kd did outraged them. In trying
to show their sympathy for his wife
they succeeded in wounding her more
deeply, and Alaire withdrew into her
self. She hitd changed. The alteration
reached to the very hone and marrow
of her being. At tirst the general pity
had wounded her. then it had offended. ;
and tiniillj angered her. That people
should notice her affliction, particu
larly when site strove so desperately
to hide it. seemed the height of inso
lence.
The management of l.as Palmas was
almost her only relief. Having sprung
from a family of ranchers, the work
came easy, and site grew to like it—ns
well as site could like anything with
that ever-present pain in her breast.
Las Palmas had prospered to admira
tion, and La Korin would have pros
pered equally had it not been for the
armed unrest of the country across the
border. No finer stock than the "Box
A” was to he found anywhere. But
Alaire had not confined her efforts tc
cattle; she had improved the breed of
“Box A horses, too, and hand in nnnd
with this work she had carried on a
series of agricultural experiments. For
instance, she had started a grove of
paper-shelled pecans, which was soon
due to bear; the rnnchhou.se and its
clump of palms was till but hidden by
a forest ot strange trees, which were
reported to ripen everything from
mothballs to bicycle tires. Blaze Jones
was perhaps responsible for this re
port. for Alaire had shown him sev
eral thousand eucalyptus saplings and
some ornamental rubber plants.
i tmi 3!iz Austin is it money-innKin
piece of furniture," he once told his
daughter Paloimi. “I'm no inechnnlenl ■
adder—
but her
on them eueher — what’s their name I
trees?—and it gave me a splittin' head
nclie. She’ll he a drug queen, sure." |
“Why don’t you follow her exam- j
pie?" asked Paloma. “We have plenty
of land.”
Blaze, in truth, was embarrassed by
the size of his holdings, but lie shook
his head. “No. I’m too old to go ram- j
pagin’ after new gods. I ain't got the !
imagination to raise anything more
complicated than a mortgage; but if j
T was younger. I'd organize myself up
myi do away with that Ed Austin. I’d
sure help him to an untimely end, and
then I’d marry them pecan groves, and
blooded herds, and drug-store orchards. |
She certainly is a heart-breakln’ do-'
vice, with her red hair, and red lips
an—
“Father!” Paloma was deeply
shocked.
*******
Complete isolation, of course, Alaire
had found to be Impossible, even j
though her ranch lay far from the trav
eled roads and her Mexican guards
were not encouraging to visitors. Busi
ness inevitably brought her into con
tact with a considerable number of
people, and of these the one she saw
most frequently waft Judge Ellsworth
of Brownsville, her attorney.
It was perhaps a week after Ed had
left for San Antonio that Alaire felt
the need of Ellsworth's counsel, and
sent for him. Ellsworth was a kindly
man of fifty-five, with a forceful chin
and a drooping, heavy-lidded eye that
could either blaze or twinkle. Judge
Ellsworth knew more than nuy four
Mien In that part of Texas; information
had a way of seeking him out. He was
a good lawyer, foo, and yet his knowl
edge of human nature he considered
far more important than law. His
mind was like a full granary, and every
grain lay where he could put his liund
upon it.
lie motored out from Brownsville,
and after ridding himself of dust, in
sisted upon spending the interval be
futu diniicc. Ui. iw. in i'etUlon AtulreJa
l count mostly on my Ungers— j
and me calculated the profits
latest ranch Improvements. Not until
dinner was over did he inquire the rea
son for his summons.
“It’s about La Korin. General Lon
jrorlo has confiscated my stock,” Alalre
told him. “I was afraid of this very
thine, and so I was preparing to bring
the stock over. Still—T never thought
they’d actually confiscate it.”
“Hasn’t Ed done enough to provoke
confiscation?" asked the judge. “1
have It pretty straight that he’s giv
ing money to the rebel junta and lend
ing every assistance he can to their
cause.”
“I didn’t know he’d actually done
anything. How mad !*'
“Yes—for a man with Interests in
federal territory. But Ed always does
the wrong thing, you know.”
“Then I presume this confiscation is
in the nature of a reprisal. But the
stock is mine, not Ed’s. I want your
help in taking up the mntter with
Washington.”
Ellsworth was pessimistic. "It
won’t do any good, my dear,” he said.
“You won’t be paid for your cattle.”
“Then I shall go to I-a Feria.”
“No!” The judge shook his head
decidedly.
“I’ve been there a hundred times.
" m
p,, A ( To el 1
V/M.EN ri/VtST
“I Wonder If You Ever Met a David
Law?"
The fcderals have been more than
courteous.”
“Longorio has a bad reputation. I
strongly advise against your going.
You’d better send some man.”
‘‘Whom can I send?” asked Alaire.
“You know my situation.”
The Judge considered a moment be
fore replying. “I can't go, for I’m
busy in court. You could probably
accomplish more than anybody else, if
Longorio will listen to reason, and,
after all, yofi are a person of such im
portance that I dare say you’d be safe.
Hut It will be a hard trip, anti you
won't know whether you are iu rebel
or In federal territory.”
‘‘Well, people here are asking wheth
er Texas is in the United States or
Mexico,” Alulre said, lightly. “Some
times I hardly know.” After a mo
ment she continued: “Since you know
everything and everybody, 1 wonder if
you ever met a David l>aw?”
HI Is worth nodded.
“Tell me something about him.”
“He asked me the same thing about
you. Well, I haven't seen much of
Dave since lie grew up. he’s such a
roa mer. ”
“He said his parents were murdered
by the Ouudnlupes.”
“Yes. It happened a good many
years ago, and certainly they both met
a violent end. I was instrumental in
saving what property Frank Law left,
hut it didn’t last Dave very long. He's
right careless in money matters. Dave's
a line fellow In some ways—most ways.
1 believe, hut—” The Judge lost him
self in frowning meditation.
“T have never known you to damn a
friend or a client with such faint
praise,” said Alaire.
“Oh. I don’t mean it that way. Ttn
almost like one of Dave's kin. and I’ve
been keenly interested In watching hi*
traits develop. I'm interested in he
redity. I've watched it in Kd’s case,
for instance. If you know the parents
it's easy to read tlielr children.” Again
lie lapsed into silence, nodding to him
self. “Yes, nature mixes her prescrip
tions like any druggist. I'm glad you
and Ed—have no bnbios.”
Alaire murmured something unintel
ligible.
(Continued Next Week.)
Why Shivering Warms Us.
Some might doubt that shivering on
a cold day would make anyone warm,
but It is true that the spasmodic quiv
ering of the muscles, called shivering,
causes a flow of blood and thereby gen
erates warmth. No one ever shivers;
until his body is extremely cold. It
Is a nervous protest on the part of the
flesh, due to acute discomfort that has
reached the brain and been reacted!.
But the moment shivering begins the
muscles work Involuntarily and tins
body begins to produce beat.
When Men Fought Hand to Hot*..
The most fearsome of all the uucieht
Russian weapons was the great.baftle
as. There were many different types
ot these, but ull were alike in having
queerly shaped, broad blildcs, often of
huge proportions and mounted ou luitjt
poles. The upper portion of the blade
usually projected iu a fantastic curve
above the huft, while the lower end
bent toward the pole, to which it was
attached by a lushing of wlra.