FREEDOM
It was the plan that had been arranged by Saint Jimmy.
Late in the afternoon of that appointed day, an automobile from Tucson
turned off from the Bankhead Highway into the old road that leads to the
Cañada del Oro.
At the point where the road enters the Cañon of Gold, which is as far as
an automobile can go on that ancient trail, Hugh and Marta, with old
Thad, were waiting.
The automobile would take them, without a stop, straight south through
Tucson to Nogales, where they would cross the international boundary
line into Nogales, Mexico. From there, immediately after the wedding
ceremony, Donald Payne and his bride would travel by rail to Mexico
City, from which point in due time they would go to the lands of the old
world. Thad would return to the Cañada del Oro, and would, for a while
at least, make his home with Saint Jimmy and Mother Burton.
It was the plan that had been arranged by Saint Jimmy when they all
believed that it was unsafe for Hugh to make his real name known in the
United States. For Marta’s sake, the original plan was still to be
carried out. When Marta and her husband were safely out of the country
and on their way abroad, Doctor Burton would give the facts to the
newspapers. In a few months the sensational story would cease to be of
news interest to the press and would be forgotten by the public. Then
Marta would be told that her husband’s innocence had been
established--that Donald Payne, no longer a fugitive from prison, was
free to return again to his own country.
Saint Jimmy and his mother had said their goodbys at the little home of
the old prospectors and their partnership girl.
From a rocky point on Samaniego Ridge, high above the Cañon of Gold,
Natachee the Indian saw the black moving spot which was the automobile
on the old trail that had been followed by so many peoples, in so many
ages.
Motionless, as a figure of stone, with a face unmoved, the red man
watched.
The automobile stopped.
The dark eyes of the Indian, trained to such distance, could see, as no
white man could have seen, the three figures entering the machine.
The automobile moved away, winding down through the foothills, crawling
cautiously over the ridges, laboring heavily across the sandy washes,
growing smaller and smaller until even to the Indian’s vision it was
lost in the gray-brown plain of the desert. But still Natachee’s gaze
held toward the south where presently he saw a faint cloud of dust
rising from the yellow threadlike line of highway. Then the cloud of
dust melted into the desert air. A moment longer the Indian watched.
Then slowly his gaze swept the many miles that lie between the foot of
the Santa Catalinas and the far horizon.
A puff of air, fragrant with the scent of the desert, stirred the single
feather that drooped from the loosely twisted folds of the Indian’s
headband. In the blue depth of the sky, a wheeling eagle screamed.
Lifting his dark face toward the mountain peaks that towered above his
lonely hut, Natachee the Indian--mystic guardian of the Mine with the
Iron Door--smiled.
THE END
* * * * *
By HAROLD BELL WRIGHT
THAT PRINTER OF UDELL’S
A gripping story of character and action, dealing with a young man’s
fight for more practical Christianity.
THE SHEPHERD OF THE HILLS
The hearts of men and women, their thoughts and acts, seen in the clear,
inspiring atmosphere of the Ozark region.
THE CALLING OF DAN MATTHEWS
Through experience of people and conditions in a mid-western town, Dan
Matthews learns that a man’s true ministry is the work in which he
serves best.
THE UNCROWNED KING
A beautiful allegory of life, showing that “the Crown is not the
Kingdom, nor is one King because he wears a Crown.”
THE WINNING OF BARBARA WORTH
Achievements of human enterprise in a charming love story whose
background is an epic of desert reclamation.
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY
New York London
* * * * *
By HAROLD BELL WRIGHT
HELEN OF THE OLD HOUSE
A great human story of American manhood and womanhood in the industrial
life of to-day.
THE RE-CREATION OF BRIAN KENT
Keen revelation of life’s invisible forces, out of which come a man’s
recovery from desperation, and his success in life and love.
WHEN A MAN’S A MAN
In the cattle country of Arizona, where a man _must_ be a man, a
stranger from another way of life proves himself in many stirring
experiences.
THE EYES OF THE WORLD
A beautiful love story with the inspiration of Nature contrasted
impressively with a life of materialism.
THEIR YESTERDAYS
A delicate story of life and love and the great elemental things that
rule men from early childhood onward.
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY
New York London