American Agriculturist, October 4, 1924 
237 
The Girl at Vacada —By J. Allan Dunn 
(For synopsis, see page 241) 
T HE little community was agog by the 
time they reached the store. When 
Nellie Bly halted in front of the store and 
stood there with Alice Hughes on her back 
while Jimmy went in to make her pur¬ 
chases, there were few eyes in Vacada not 
focused on the bride. That she had had 
the temerity to defy Fumiss none knew 
but that unworthy. 
Some believed that Jimmy Hughes was 
an old acquaintance; all wondered what 
part Furniss had taken, or would take, in 
the romance. And Furniss, from the 
window of his office in El Solaz, opposite 
the general store, nursed his own grievance 
and closely surveyed Jimmy and his 
mare, pondering how best to get even and 
serve his own ends. The witnesses were 
with him, drinking at Furniss’ expense, 
saving their twenties, of which they said 
nothing. 
“Had a roll on him ’ud choke a steer,” 
said one of them. “ Four or five thousand, 
easy. Mebbe more.” 
“Ought to git a good price for yore 
hawss,” said the other. 
Furniss turned on them. 
“He’ll buy no horse from you,” he 
ordered savagely. “He’ll buy no horse 
in this town or the one sellin’ it is goin’ 
to get in bad, early and deep. You can 
pass that word round as coming from 
me. Hop to it.” 
They looked at him, saw he meant it 
and, natural serfs that they were, went 
to do his bidding while Furniss glowered 
through the grimy window. Alice sat her 
saddle, not unconscious' of the leering 
inquisition of the town, but proudly ignor¬ 
ing it, upborne by the fact that she was 
getting away from the place where she 
had seen disgrace, shared poverty and 
faced ignominy. Jimmy came out with 
some packages and led the mare toward 
the shack where she had lived. It was 
the last in town, a hundred yards from 
the nearest neighbors, and those Mexi¬ 
cans, a forlorn abiding place. 
T HE door was open. Jimmy examined 
the bolt as they passed through to the 
poor interior, putting down his purchases. 
The one original room had been divided 
in half, then subdivided again into three. 
The girl passed on to her own chamber 
and Jimmy gave one comprehensive 
glance about the place, neat enough but 
eloquent of pinched resources. His 
Wife came out after a few minutes in 
which she had taken off her sunbonnet 
and, with marital propriety, changed the 
long gold plait to massed braids that 
made a coronet about her head. She 
smiled at him faintly. 
“I’ll change my dress before we go,” 
she said. “This ain’t very much like a 
wedding gown. I don t have to wear 
v black for him, I reckon.” 
Jimmy, with a look that made her 
tingle, exhibited his goods. 
“Jar of sliced bacon, coffee, condensed 
milk, crackers, can corned beef, ha f a 
dozen pertaters, sack of Durham an 
papers for me. I got a mess outfit for 
cookin’. I saw this an’ thought you 
might like it.” 
He watched a bit sheepishly while she 
unwrapped a package and disclosed a 
bolt of blue ribbon, wide, and the part 
protected by the paper entirely unfaded. 
She exclaimed with delight as she saw the 
real color unfold. 
“Color of Lupines,” said Jimmy. 
“Same as your eyes.” 
She looked at him half wonderingly, 
her eyes soft, filling with tears. 
“It’s lovely. I—no one ever bought 
me ribbon like that before.” 
Jimmy warded off the gratitude he 
did not know how to accept. It was a 
queer sort of wedding morning, he 
decided, but he did not want to alter it. 
There were other things to do. Despite 
his assurance to Alice, he did not under¬ 
estimate Furniss’ willingness to block the 
exodus of the girl. Nor had he relied 
upon the one opportunity to buy a horse 
offered by the marriage witnesses. Jimmy 
knew and cared too much about horses 
to buy the first one presented. 
“Here’s the adhesive,” he continued. 
“An’ here’s this. Storekeeper swears 
they’re gold.” He dropped two rings 
into her palm, one a slender twist of in¬ 
tertwining hoops set with a garnet and 
two tiny pearls, the other a plain circle. 
“Oh!” She tried them on her finger 
to the second knuckle, then held her 
hand out to him. “They’re beautiful. 
You put them on. And thank you.” 
Her eyes shone with surprised gratitude. 
“Don’t take off the horsehair one,” she 
said as Jimmy clumsily, for all his deft 
fingers, set engagement token and wed¬ 
ding ring in place. Lastly he took from 
his pocket a thirty-two Colt’s revolver of 
blued steel. 
“It’s loaded,” he said. “You might 
need it if Furniss comes snoopin’ around 
while I’m gone. An’ anyway, it might 
make you feel easier to pack it. Sabe 
how to work it? Thought so. Now then, 
I’m after that hawss an’ saddle. You 
pack what you need in a warbag so’s it’ll 
“You can drag your freight, Gus,” 
said Furniss. “I’m handling this.” 
Furniss made his way back to the 
stable back of El Solas where his horse 
was barned, saddled, mounted and rode 
to the girl’s shack, coming up at the back 
and alighting. He went to the window 
and peered in, triumph in his eyes that 
faded, turned to malice. The girl was 
folding some clothes and laying them on 
the table, passing back and forth to her 
own room. She walked lamely, support¬ 
ing herself by the back of a chair or 
bureau top, but her face shone and she 
was singing, softly, plainly enough for 
him to catch the tune. 
“It was there that Annie Laurie 
Gie’d me her promise true. 
“Gie’d me her promise true. 
That ne’er forgot shall be.” 
The singing stopped as Furniss tapped 
on the back door. Next moment the 
girl opened it, her face alight with wel¬ 
come that vanished as Furniss pushed his 
way in, slammed the door and shot a 
bolt. The girl turned to the table where 
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ride. You don’t have to take everything. 
Ma Axtell ’ll help you buy yore trousseau.” 
With that he precipitously went out 
the door. The girl went to the window, 
hiding back of the worn curtain to see 
him mount and gallop off. Her eyes 
were troubled as she watched. She still 
held the gun in her hand, and she put it 
on the table. He had meant that as 
protection against him as well as Furniss, 
she knew. Yet he had married her. Her 
perplexity grew, resentment struggling 
with approval. She caught the fingers 
of her left hand, lifting them for closer 
inspection of the rings; then she kissed 
them softly, the hair circlet last of all. 
A N hour later, an hour wasted, Jimmy 
raced out of town toward the Two-Bar 
ranch, five miles out, following a tip 
from the storekeeper. The henchmen of 
Bluff Furniss had done his bidding. There 
were no horses for sale in Vacada. Shortly 
afterward Furniss emerged from the 
little depot carrying an open telegram, 
a grin on his face. The man called Gus 
met him. 
“He’s gone out to Two-Bar,” he said. 
“Fowler tipped him before I see him.” 
“That’s all right, Gus,” he said. “I’ve 
got him where I want him.” 
Gus, who had expected reprimand, 
grinned vacuously and tried to steal a 
look at the telegram, but Furniss antici¬ 
pated him. Gus knew it was no use to 
interview the operator. Furniss had the 
latter’s allegiance. Bluff had something 
on him, as he had on Gus. For that 
matter they had things on Bluff, but 
he had the pull. 
the gun still lay but her lameness halted 
her and Furniss brushed her aside, 
laughing as he pocketed the pistol. 
“Too speedy for you, eh? Sorry to 
stop the singin’. But I reckon you’ll 
have to break that promise true you gave 
up at the Bee Parson’s. I’ll settle his 
hash for him later. An’ you’ll be willin’ 
to break promise when I show up thet 
fourflushing crook you think you’re 
married to, flashing his roll, the sucker.” 
“I am married to him. He’s not a 
crook.” She faced Furniss defiantly. 
“He’ll be back any minute and you’ll 
talk differently.” 
She talked bravely, but the confidence 
of Bluff’s attitude dismayed her a little. 
The thought of the roll of big bills 
troubled her again. But she held her 
head high, her eyes bright, her breast 
displaying her agitation. Furniss laughed 
out loud. 
“He’ll be back in two hours, if he’s 
got luck. Tried to buy him a horse in 
my town. An’ c’udn’t. So he’s off to 
the Two-Bar an’ back. Just started a 
while ago. So that’s him. As to bein 
married, a tip-off from me an’ the civil 
authorities’ll get busy. That certificate 
you got from that broken-lunged whiner 
won’t be worth the paper it's written on. 
I’ll fix that. As for his not being a crook; 
you listen to this.” 
He sat on the edge of the table, exhibit¬ 
ing two sheets of paper, one the telegram 
brought from the depot, the other a small 
poster, clean and crisp, the word 
REWARD prominent at the head of its 
printing. Alice looked at it as a bird 
gazes at the hypnotizing snake. 
REWARD 
Five hundred dollars Reward is offered 
by the Wells Fargo Co. for the arrest or 
information leading to the arrest of Buck 
Purdy who held up and robbed the Cuchara 
Stage at Slow Creek on the evening of June 
twenty-fifth. 
Thought to be heading west. Is likely 
to be traveling under alias. Five feet ten, 
weight about a hundred and sixty-five 
pounds, gray eyes, prominent nose, brown 
hair. Age about twenty-eight. 
Was riding a bay horse at the time of 
crime. 
Sheriffs and officers of the law take 
notice. 
“How’s that?” jeered Furniss. “I 
got that bill two weeks ago. Been 
hopin’ he’d trail this way. But I sure 
never figured on so much luck. Five 
hundred bucks and a horning-in fool 
put where he belongs. He won’t flash 
the roll he copped from the stage in the 
penitentiary. ’ ’ 
r pHE girl stood with lips tight closed, 
^ breathing hard through her expanded 
nostrils, her hands clenched till the 
knuckles showed white. 
‘That don’t prove he’s Buck Purdy,” 
she said. “That description might fit a 
dozen.” 
“It sure fits him. Good enough for 
me or any other officer to click the cuffs 
on him and turn him over. Oh, it’s him. 
That bill ain’t all. I wanted to be sure 
myself. So I wired the sheriff and 
here’s the answer. 
R. A. Furniss, 
Deputy Sheriff, 
Vacada, N. M. 
If your man is riding bay mare branded V in a ring you 
collect five hundred. Aliases of Daly, Ry;(,n, Hughes. 
Arrest and bring on first train. Albert Howe. 
“Want to see it?” He offered her the 
form, but she made no effort to take it. 
Her head wilted. Once more despair 
established itself in her eyes. “We’ll 
get him coming back from the Two- 
Bar. Cobb’s got no horses for sale. 
I happen to know that. And I phoned 
him. So your Hughes, alias Ryan, alias 
Purdy, won’t get a chance to spend any 
more of the money he stole. Fifteen 
years he’ll get, unless—” 
“Unless — what? ” 
“You stay and do like I said, an’ I'll 
give you the chance to tip him off for a 
getaway. I’ll forget the bill and the 
telegram long enough for him to get a good 
start. If not, we arrest him as he rides 
in from Cobb’s. He might even get 
hurt — resisting,” he added, watching her 
narrowly. “That’s my proposition. You 
can trust my end of it because you could 
dpublecross me afterward. I want you, 
willing. Sabe?” 
H ER eyes rounded with horror. 
“I am married to him,” she 
said slowly. 
“You want to stay married to a crook? 
Aside from what I can do up at the State 
House, you’re as good as a widow right 
now.” 
“Married, for better and worse, in the 
sight of God and of man. The Bee 
Parson said so.” 
“So, you’re gone on him, after all? 
Then you’d better give him his chance 
for a getaway. Sticking by him’ll land 
him where you’ll get to see him once a 
month, if he don’t land in a morgue.” 
He had her in a cleft stick and he 
watched her with all the cruelty in him 
dominant, despite his longing for her 
possession. She wrung her hands in an 
agony of indecision. 
“You stick here and he gets the 
chance to go free,” summed up Furniss. 
“You stick with him and he goes to the 
penitentiary—if we take him alive. 
Then where are you?” Her face twisted 
pitifully. 
There came the tinkle of glass and the 
breaking of wood. Jimmy, outside the 
low-silled window, kicked in the sash 
(Continued on page 21+1) 
