The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, February 2, 1902, Page 6

THE SUNDAY CALL, The Dismigsal of Silver PHiL. Copyricht, 1902, by Robert Howard Russell. 1S name, comgplete, is “Silver City ¥ In them social observ- Southwest, wherein er an’ brev-ty the eye aimed at, said cogno- rtened up to ‘Silver Phil.’ man looked thoughtfully if by that method he col- d elements of a story. e. Then he lifted the as one who being now with information, also hand in hand with would build a tale ere t arrive 2 wh this Silver Phil {s dead now; an’ the gent with yet crosses dark, igno neat e too small a , you sc Greaser neither. wicke: s £ w € h ilver Phil mom er Phil he's m of the Red ar Black Ja from com- start that bot- his - jest the same. It I'm never muck me t ple e'fs in For say don't it strik me—an’ I've of "em—it’s more like that a-way than sand “Take Enright or Peets or Cherokee or Tutt or Moore or Boggs or Texas Thompson; you're plumb safe with them , all or any. An’ yet thar ain't the glimmer of bein’ gun-shy about onec only of "em; they’re as clean strain as the eter- granite, an’ no more likely to hide out from danger than a hill. An’ while they differs from each other, yet they're all different from sech folks as Silver Phi Boggs, goin’ to war, is full of a good-humored integrity; gala an’ confl- dent; ready to start or stop like a good hoss. Cherokee Hall is quiet an’ word- Jess; he gets pale, but quick an’ deadly; &n’ his notion, nacheral, is to fight for a finish. Peets is haughty an’ sooperior on them few o'casions when he onbends in battle an’ comports himse'f like a gent who fights down hill; the same, ondoubt- ed, bein’ doo to them book advantages of Peets which elevates him an’ lifts him ebove the common herd a whols lot. En- right, who's oldest, is, of course, slowest to embark in blood; an’ pulls his weepons —when he does pull "em—with a air of sor- rowful resignation. ““Which I'm shorely saddest when I shoots,” says Enright to me, as he re- loac gun one time. yere hoomane sentiments, how- n't deter him none from shootin® min’ low, which latter habit 's honored chief a highly ate game to get ag'inst. ck Moore, bein’ as I explains former, execyootif of the Stranglers an’ re- sponsible for law an’ order, has a heap of shootin’ shoved onto him from time to e. Jack transacts these yere fireworks s with a ca'm, offishul front, the seme bein’ devold, equal of anger or re- grets. Tutt, partic'lar after he weds Tuc- son Jennie, an' more partic’lar still when he reaps new honors as the originator of that blessed infant Enright Peets Tutt, carries on what shootin’ comes his way in a manner a lot dignified an’ lofty; while morbid ebout his wife demandin® she be ivorced that time—although he picks up his hand in & fracas sharp an’ irritable an’ with no delays, after all is that well balanced he's bound to be each time plumb right. “Which, you observes, son, from these yere settin's forth, that thar's a mighty sight of difference between gents like them pards o' mine I names an’ de- gen'rates of the tribe of Silver Phil. It's the difference between right an’ wrong; s Wolfv one works from a impulse of pure jes- tice, the other is moved of a sperit of crime; an’ thar you be. “Silver Phil, we learns later—an’ it shore jestifies Peets in them theeries ! about him bein’ a degen'rate—has been in plenty of blood. But allers like a cat; savage, gore-thirsty, but shy, prideless, an’ ready to fly. It seems he begins to be homicidal in a boyish humble way by- downin’ a nigger trooper over near Fort Cummings. That's four vears before he visits us. He's been blazing away inter- mittent ever since, but allers cruel, crafty and safe. It's‘got to be a shore thing, or Silver Phil quits an’ goes into the water like a mink. “This yere ondersized miscreant ain't ha’'nted about Wolfville more'n four days before he shows how onnecessary he is, that-a-way to_our success. Which he works a ha'r copper on Cherokee Hall ‘What's a ha't copper? T'll onfold, short and terse, what Silver Phil does, an’ then you save; Cherokee’s dealin’ his game— farobank she is; an’ it all them national banks conducts themse'fs as squar as does that enterprise of Cherokee the fields of finance would be as safely honest as a church. Cherokee's turnin” his game one evenin’; Faro Nell on the lookout stool where she belongs. Silver Phil drifts up to the lay-out an’ camps over back of the king-end. He gets chips an’ goes to takin’ c es alternate on the King, Queen, Jack, t all side an’ side they be. Cherokee bein’ ain’t over-prone to ex in others, squar himse'f, ct a devious play He don’t notice this yvere Silver e spes in’ shoves the kyards. r Phil wins three or four bets; 1 that catches on to acket an’ to Cherokee onder the table ttle foot. One glance an’ Cher- loaded with information. This r Phil, it , in a spirit of quips 8 'f with copper—little necker is what t wooden « done filched an’ he s-ha'r to k jest lon, nearest k ten. An’ ept to eyes deceetful Silver ‘em vere 1 copper. 1 As the turns is made, ird comes his way, well an’ ver Phil does nothin’; b ts. When his kyard in him, however, secli events, h, 1 th box. Silve sort o' t. off the s Sil- bet ver Phil's bet—by virch When the turn is open an’ tr nch bowie th one slash, cuts » by Silver Phil's b “‘That’s a yconique invention!” ob- s Cherokee, an arcastic a whole lot while he me: with the bowie at Silver Phil; ‘that contraption is sh plenty sagacious! But it don't g0 here in your chips’ Silver Phil or *‘he shows furtif, ugly an’ alarm once t a d. ‘Now pull concludes rokee. If you ever comes within ten t of a game of mine ag'in, I'll throw e plumb through you—ihrsugh An’ Cherokee, by way of ' emphasis, lets fly the knife bar room. It comes like a ‘Chuck! “Thar’'s a picture paper pasted onto the wooden wall of the Red Light, displaylm’ e liniaments of some party. That bowie pierees the picture—a shot in the cross it is—an’ all with sech force‘that the pint of the blade shows a inch an’ a half on the other side of that individyooal board. “‘The next time I throws a knife in your presence, remarked Chefokee to Silver Phil, an’ Cherokee’s as cold an’ p'isonous as a rattlesnake, ‘it'li- be la’nched 2t you.” “Silver Phil don’t say nothin’ in retort. He's aware by the lib’ral way Cherokee sep'rates himse'f from the bowle that said weepon don’t constitoote Cherokee's entire armament. An’ as Silver Phil don’t pack the sperit to face no sech flash-light war- rior, he acts on Cherokee's hint to vamos, an’ fades into the street. Shore, Cherokee don’t cash that felon's chips none. He confiscates 'em. Cherokee ain’t quite so tenderly romantic as to make good to a detected robber. Moreover, he lets this Silver Phil go onharmed, when by every roole his skelp is forfeit. It turns out good for the camp, however, as this yere experience proves so depressin’ to Silver Phil he removes his blankets to Red Dog. Thar among them purblind tarrapins, its inhabitants, it's likely he gets prosperous an’ ondetected action on that little old ha'r copper of his. “It's not only my beliefs, but likewise the opinions of sech joodiclal sports as Enright, Peets an’ Colonel Sterett, that this yere maverick, Silver Phil, is all sorts of a crim'nal. An’' I wouldn't wonder none if he’s a pure rustler that a-way; as ready to stand up a stage as snake a play at farobank. This yere idee settles down on the Wolfville intell’gence on.the heels of a vicissitoode or two wherein Dan Boggs performs, an’ which gets pulled off over in the Bird Cage Op'ry House. Jack Moore ain’t thar none that time. Usual, Jack is a constant deevotes of the dramy. Jack’'s not only a first- nighter, he comes mighty clost to bein’ a every-nighter. But this partic’lar evenin’ when Boggs performs, Jack’s rummagin’ about seme’ers elss. “If Jack's thar, it's even money he'd a-had that second shot instead of Boggs; in which event, the results might have been something graver than this yere mi- noote wound which Boggw confers. Which I'm confident Jack would have cut in that a-way with the second shot, for sech was his offishul system. Jack more'n once proclaims his position in them behalfs. By every roole of law,’ says Jack at sech epocks when he declar's himse'f, ‘an’ on all o’casions, I, as kettle tender to the Stranglers, is entitled to the first shot. ‘When I uses the term “o'casion,” nacher- “‘WHICHE I WON'T any I would be onderstood as allodin’ to affairs of purely social kind, an’ not to robberies, hold-ups, hoss-larcenies, an’ other an’ sim'lar 'tfansactions in coldly spec-latif crime when every gent defends his own. Speakin’ soclal, however, I re- asserts that by every roole of guidance I'm entitled to the first shot. Which a doo regyard for them plain rights of mine would go far to freein’ Wolfville soclety that a-way from them bullets which oc- curs from time to time an’ which even the most onconventlonal admits is shore a draw-back. All I can add as a closer,’ concloods Jack, ‘is that I'll make haste o ,open on any sport who transgresses these yere flats, an’ goes to shootin’ first. Moreover, it's likely sald offender finds that once I'm started, what I misses in the orig’nal deal, I'll make up in the draw, an’ I tharfore hopes an’ trusts that none will prove so sooicidal as to put me to the test.’ “This yere Bird Cage Op'ry House evenin’, however, Jack is absent a whole lot. Dan Boggs is present an’ is leanin’ back, appreciatin’ the show an’ the Val- ley Tan a heap impartial. Dan likes both an’ is doin’ 'em even jestice. Over opp’- site to Dan is a drunken passel of sports from Red Dog; sald wretched hamlet bein’ behind Wolfville in that as in all things else—not ownin’ no op’ry house. “As the evenin' proceeds—it's about sixth drink time—a casyooal gun goes off over among the Red Dog band, an’ the lead tharfrom bores a hole in the wall ¢lost to Dan's y'ear. Nacherally Dan don’t like it. The show sort o’ comes to & balk with the shot, an’ takin’ advan- tages o’ the lull, Dan rises in a listless way an’ addresses the Red Dog outfit. “‘1 merely desires to Inquirs,’ says Dan, ‘whether that shot is inadvertant, or & mark of innocent joobiiation an’ ap- proval of the show, er is it meant per- sonal to me? " “ ‘You can bet your moocasinst’ shouts one of the Red Dog delegation, ‘thar’s no good fellowship goes with that gun-play. ‘That shot’s formal an’ serious, an’ shore goes as it lays.’ “ ‘My mind bein’ now cl'ar on that sub- Ject of motif, says Dan, ‘the proper course is plain.’ “With this yere retort, Dan slams away gen'ral—shoots into the flock like—at BE TOOK! SAYS SILVER PHIL ALL FLUSTERED.” | them picnickers from Red Dog, an’ a party who's plenty drunk an’' had his feet plled up on a table goes shy his off big toe. “As I remarks yeretofore, it's as well Jack Moore ain’t thar. Jack would have corraled something more momentous than & toe. Which Jack would have been shootin’ in his capac’ty as Marshal, an’ wouldn’t onder sech circumstances have stooped to toes none. But it's different with Dan. He, of course, Is presdnt pri- vate an’ merely idlin’ round; an’ he ain’t driven to take sech high ground. More partic'lar, since Dan’s only playin’ a re- turn game, that a-way, all in the nacher of reproofs an’ to resent sald onlicensed Uberties them Red Dogs takes with him. Dan is free to accept toes if he so de- cides, “When Dan busts this yers inebriate, the victim lams loose a yell 'gainst which even a coyote would protest. This sot thinks he's shore killed. What with the care, an’ the pain, an’ the nose paint, an’ regyardin’ himse'f as right then flut- terin’ an’ fritterin’ about the rim of eter- nity, he gets seized with remorse an’ al-* lows he’s out to confess his sins before he quits. As thar's no sky pilot to confide in, this drunkard figgers Peets'll do, an’ then he onloads on Peets that, bein’ as he is a stage bookkeep over in Red Dog, he's In ca-hoots with a outfit of route agents, an’ gives 'em the word when it's worth while te stand-up the stage. An’ among others, this terrified person names that little outlaw Silver Phil. “Shore, when he rounds to, an’ learns that it ain’t nothin’ but a toe, this party’s plumb chagrined to death. ) / “This yere confidin’ sport’s arrested an’ taken som'ers—Prescott mebby—to be tried in a shore-enough co’t for them rob- beries; the Red Dog Stranglers not bein’ game to butt in with a larlat an’ hang him a lot themse’fs. They surrenders him to the Marshal who rides over for him; an' they would have turned out Bilver Phil, too, only that small black outcast don’t walt none, but goes squan- derin’ off to onknown climes the mo- ment he hears the news. He's quit Red Dog before ever this yere penitent book- keep ceases yelpin’ an’ sobbin' over that absent toe. “It ain't no time, though. before we hears further of Silver Phil; that is, by way of roomer., It looks like a couple of big cow outfits some’ers over in the San Simon country—they're the ‘“Three-D’ an’ the ‘K-in-a-box’ brands—takes first to stealin’ each other’s cattle an’ final goes to war. Each side retains a passel of murderers an’ proceeds buoyantly to lay for one another a whole lot. Which Silver Phil enlists with the ‘Three-D’ an’ sneaks an’ prowls an’ bushwhacks an’ shoots himse'f into more or less bloody an’ ig- noble prom'nence.. At last the main war- chiefs of the Territory declar's in on the riot, an’ chases both sides into the hills, an’ among the other excellent deeds makes captif Silver Phil <7 “It's a great error they don’t string this yere Silver Phil instanter. But no; after the procrastin’ fashion of real law, they permits the little villain—who's no more use on the surface of Arizona that a-way than one of the rabid hydrophoby pole- cats whose bite is death—to get a law sharp to plead for him an’ call for a show-down before a jedge an’ jury. It takes days to try Silver Phil, an’ them marshals an’ sheriff gents is two weeks squanderin’ about, gettin’ witnesses; an’ all to as much trouble an’ loss of time an’ dinero as would suffice to round-up the cattle of Cochise County. Enright an’ the Stranglers would have turned the trick in twenty minutes, an’ never left the New York store until with Silver Phil an’ a larfat they reepalrs to the windmiil to put the finishin’' touches on their labors. “‘Still, dooms slow an’ shiftless as they shore be, at the wind-up Silver Phil's found guilty a whole lot, an’ is put in nom’nation by the presiding alcalde to be hung; the time bein’ set in a crazy-hoss fashion for a month away. As Silver Phil —which he’s so bad an’ hard, he comes mighty clost to bein' game—is leaving’ the co't room with the marshal who's rfdin’ herd on him he says: ' “‘ ain’t payin’ much attention at the time,” Sflver Phil's talkin' to that mar- shal gent, ‘bein’ I'm thinkin’ of some- thing else, but do I understand that old gray sport on the bench to say you-all is to hang me next month? “ ‘That's whatever!' assents this yere marshal gent, ‘an’ you can gamble a bloo stack that hangin’ you is a bet we ain't none likely to overlook. Which we're out to put our whole grateful souls into that dooty.” “‘Now I thinks of it, observes Silver Phil, T'm plumb averse to bein’ hung. I Teckons, speakin’ free an’ free as between fellow sports, that in order for that exe- cootion to be a blindin’ success, I'll have to be thar personal? “‘It's one of them mighty few o'ca- sions,’ responds the marshal, ‘when your sbsence would shorely dash an’ damp the gen'ral joy. As you says, you'll have to be thar & heap when sald hangin’ oc- curs.” “‘Tm plumb sorry,” says Silver Phil, ‘that you-all lays out your game so that 80 much depends on me. The more so since .the longer I considers this yere 1acket, the less likely it Is I'll be thar. It's almost a cinch, with the plans I has, that I'll shore be some’ers else.’ “They corrals Silver Phil in the one big upper room of a two-story 'doby, an’ counts off a couple of dep’ty marshals to, gyard him. These gyards, comin’ quar’ down to cases, ain’t no im- provement, moral, on Silver Phil himse'f; an’ since they’re twice his age—Silver Phil not bein’ more'n twenty—it's safe s a play to say that both of 'em oughter Lave been hung a heap before ever Silver Phil is born. These two hold-ups, how- ever, turns dep’ty marshals in their old age, an’ as I states, is put to stand watch an’ watch, an’ see that Silver Phil don’t work loose from them hobbles. an’ %o pirootin’ off ag'in into parts onknown. Silver Phil is loaded with fetters—hand- cuffs an’ laig-locks both—an’ these yere hold-ups sentrles is armed to the limit. “It's the idee of Doc Peets later, when he hears them details, that if the gyards that time treats Silver Phil with kind- ness, this little felon most likely would have remained to be hung. But they don’t: They abooses Silver Phil a heap; cussin’ him out an’ jammin’ him about like he's cattle. They're shors evil- tempered couple, them dep'ties, an’ they don’t glve Silver Phil no sort o' peace. ‘“‘As I su'gests yeretofore,’ says Doc Peets, when he ‘tonsiders the case, ‘this Stlver Phil is a degen'rate. He's like a animile. He don’t entertain no reg'lar scheme to work free when he waxes sar- castic with the marshal; that's only & bluff. Later, when them gyards takes to maltreatin’ him verbal, and battin’ him about, it wakes up the venom in him an’ his cunnin’ gets aroused slong with his appetite for revenge.’ “This Silver Phil, who's litttle an’ lean an’ slim, like I explains at the jump, has hands no bigger than a cat's paws. It ain’t no time when he discovers, by cut- tin’ himse’f some on the irons that he can shuck the handcuffs whenever he's disposed. Even then, he don’t outline no campaign for liberty; jest sort o’ roomi- nates an’ walts. “It’s one partic’lar mornin’, some two weeks after Silver Phil's sentenced to be hung that a-way. The marshal gent him- ge’t ain’t about none; bein’ on some dooty over to Tucson. Silver Phil is upstairs on the top floor of the 'doby with his gyards. Which he's hotter than a wild cat; the gyards an’ him’'s been havin’ a cussin’ match, an’' as Silver Phil outplays ’em talkin’, one of 'em has done whacked him over the skelp with his gun. The blood’s chasin’ down Silver Phil's fore’erd as he sits glowerin’. “One of the gyards is loadin’ a 10- gauge Greener gun—a whole mouthful of buckshot in each shell. He’s grinnin’ at Silver Phil sarcastic as he shoves the shells in the gun an’ slams her shet. ““Which I'm loadin’ that weepon for you,’ says the gyard,'co..templatin’ Silver Phil plenty derisive. * “You be, be you! replies Silver Phil. his eyes burnin’ with rage. ‘Which you better lock out a whole lot; you-all may get it yourse'fs. “The gyard laughs, ugly an’ exaspera- tin’ and then puts the 10-gauge in a lock- er along with twa or three Winchesters. Then he turns the key on said firearms an’ goes caperin’ off to his feed. “The other gyard, his compadre, is set- tin’ on a stool lookin’ outen a window. Mebby he's thinkin’ of his sins. It would be more in his hand at this epock if he thinks of Silver Phil “Silver Phil, who’s full of wrathan’ rage at the taunts of that departed gyard, slips his hands free of the irons. Most of the hide on his hands comes with 'em, but Silver Phil don’t care. The gyard's back is to him where he sits gazin' out an’ off along the dusty trail, where it winds gray an’ hot toward Tucson. Silver Phil organizes, stealthy an’ cat-cautious; he’s out for the gyard’'s gun where it hangs from his belt, the butt all temptin an’ s stive. “As Stiver Phil makes his first move, them laig-locks clanks a little. It ain’t louder than the jingle of two centouse knockin’ together. It's enough, however; it strikes on the y'ear of that thoughtful gyard like the roar of a '#. Which he emerges from that reverie with a start; the play comes cl'ar as noonday to him in a moment. “The gyard leaps without even lookin’ round, to free himse't from Sflver Phil. Which he's the splinter of a second too late. Silver Phil makes a spring llke a mountain lion, laig-locks an’ all, an’ grabs the gun. As the gyard goes clat- terin’ downstairs, Silver Phil pumps two loads into him an’ curls him up at the foot. Then Silver Phil hurls the six- shooter at him, accompanied with a vol- ley of mal'dictions. “Witkout pausin’ a moment, Silver Phil grabs the stool an’ smashes to flinders that locker that holds the 10-gauge Green- er. Hean't forgot none; an’ he’s plumb locoed to get rald partic’lar weepon for the other gyard. He rips it from the rack, an’ shows at the window jest as his prey comes runnin’ to the rescoo of his pard: “‘On, you! Virg Sanders!” yells Silver Fhil. “The second gyard looks up; an’ as he does, Silver Phil gives him both bar'ls. Ferty-two buckshot; an’ that gyard's so clost he stops 'em all! As he lays dead, Silver Phll breaks the Greener In two, an’ throws, one after the other, stock an’ bar’l at him. “ “Which I'll show you-all what happens when you loads a gun for mel’ says Sil- ver Phil. “By now this yere artillery practice turns out the entire plaza. The folks is standin’ about the 'doby which confines Silver Phil, wonderin’ whatever that en- thoosiast's goin’ to do next. No, they don't come after him none, an' I'll teil you why. Shore, thar's *twenty gents lcckin’ on, any one of whom, so far as personal apprehensions is involved, would trail Silver Phil single handed that a-way into a wolf's den. Which he’d feel plumb confident he gets away with Silver Phil an’ the wolves thrown In to even up the odds. Still, all the same, no one stretches forth to capture Silver Phil on this yere voylent o’casion. “An’ these yere is the reasons. Thar's no reg’lar offishul present whose dooty it is to rope up this Silver Phil. had chanced to be thar, you can put down a stack he’d a-come runnin’; an’ him or Stlver Phil would have caught up with them two ‘gyards on thelir journey over into the beyond. An’ next, when it comas to private people volunteerin’ for dooty as marshals, folks in the Southwest goes some slothful to work. Thar's friends of the accoosed—an’ as & roole he ain’t none friendless—who latter might likely re- sents sech zeal. Also, In the case of Sil- ver Phil, his captivity grows out of that cattle war. More'n half of the public, =o far as it stands about the 'doby where Silver Phil is hived that time, 1s “Three- D’ adherents. Mebby the other is‘K-in- a-box’ foliss; mebby they’re nootral a whole lot. Whichever way, however, thar's a tacit stand-off an’ never a sport of 'em lifts a finger or voice to head off Silver Phil. “‘Which she's the Inalien’ble right of It sech Americans, onder the constitootion, to es- cape with every chance they gets,’ says one. “ “That's whatever,’ cofncides his pard; ‘an’ moreover this yere ain't our round- up, nohow.* t's that a-way, these private citizens adjusts their dooty to the Stats, while pausin’ In a sperit of cur'osity for Silver Phil to make his next move. “They don’t wait long. Silver Phil comes out on the roof of a stoop In front. He's got a Winchester by now, am’ he promptly throws the muzzle tharof on a leadin’ citizen. Silver Phil allows he'll plug thi§ dignitary some if they don’t sent up a sport with a file to cut loose them laig- locks. Which the pop'lace, full of a warm interest by this time, does better. They gropes about in the warbags of the sharp who stops that buckshot an’ gets the keys, an’ Silver Phil is free. “Still, this ontir! hold-up goes- on menacin’ the leadin’ citizen as former. ‘Which now Silver Phil demands a bronco, bridled an’ saddled. He gives the publio ten minutes; if that desired bronco is still absent Silver Phil allows that he'll intro- dooce about a pound of lead into whers that village father does his cogitatin’. The bronco appears with six minutes to spar. Then this vivacious Silver Phil jumps off the roof of that stoop—the same bein’ low —an’ is In the saddle an’ out o’ sight while as practiced a hand as old Huggins mebby pourfn’ out a drink. Where the trail bends ‘round a mesa Silver Phil pulls up. “ “Whoop! whoop! whoopee! for Silver Phil,’ he shouts. “Then he waves the Winchester an’ as he spurs ‘round the corner of the hill, it's shore the last that spellbound outfit ever sees of Silver Phil. “Nacherally, now, son,’”j remarked my old friend, as he refreshed himself with a mouthful of Scotch, and then in further mood to be comfortable, cut off the end of a perfecto. “you-all is waltin’ an’ try- in’ to guess wherever does Dan Boggs that a-way get in on this yere deal. An’ it won' ake no time to post you; the same bein’ a comfort. (ot one word do we-all Wolves of ‘Woifville hear of them divers an’ sundry adventures of Silver Phil—shootin’ up his gyards an’ fetchin’ himself free—ontil . long after. No one in Wolfville’s got Sil- ver Phil on mind at all; at least it he has, he deems him safe an’ shore in hock a-waitin’ to be stretched. Considerin’ what follows, I never experiences no trouble in adoptin’ Doc Peets’ arguments, that them thrillin’ episodes wherein this Silver Phil figgers sort o' corrodes at his intellects ontil he's absolutely locoed. “‘Bein’ this Silver Phil's a degen’rate,’ declar's Peets explanatory; ‘he’s plumb easy to loco. His mind as well as his moral nacher is onbalanced congenital. Any triflin’ jolt, much less what that Sil- ver Phil runs up on, is shore to overset him." “Now that Silver Phil's free, but locoetl like Peets says, an’ fretted no doubt by them tan s, it looks like he thinks of not wreekin’ vengeance on all who's .cro A his trail. An* with vengeance eatin’ at his little erim’nal heart, he p’ bronco’s muzzle straight as a b fes for Woltville. Whoever do you-all reckom now he wants? Cheroke 1?7 Som, you've fol- Iowed off the wrong wagon track. Siiver Phil—jest Imagine the turpitoode of sech a ornmery wretch—is out for the ha'r of d Faro Nell who detects him in them hoss- Pa'r frauds that time “Which the first news Woltville has of Silver Phil, after that escape, is one evenin’ about fifth dr time, or, as you-all says, ‘f o’cl The sun's still hot an’ high over e west. Thar's no game goin’; but bein’ as 1t's as con- venient thar as elsewhere, Cherokee's settin’ back of his box with Faro Nell on her lookout steol, as usual. Dan Boggs i3 over across in the dance hall door; an’ as it befalls, his pet b bronco, waitin’ saddled in front. Hot an’ drow- sy; the street, save for thise, is deserted. “It all take: a clattterin’ ru with sweat an’ shows in the Thar's place in a roment. Thar's an” then, pony amuck al a ali just, Silver Phil of the Red Light ' smoke, as she fires ht at Faro Nell but Cherokee is eps Faro Nell from motion of his arm an® " for her jist lifts trifle where he "most “Ondoubted, this Silver Phil allows he ¢’lects on Faro Nell as planned. He don’t shoot twice; an’ he don’t tarry none; but wheels his wearied pony, gives a yell, an’ goes chargin’ off. “But Silver Phil's got down to the turmn of that evil deal of his existence. He ain’t two hundred yards when Dan Boggs is In the saddle an’ ridin" hard. Dan’s bronco runs three foot for every one of the pony of Silver Phil's; whicth that beaten an’ broken cayouse is ejghty miles from the last mouthful of grass. As Dan be- gins to crowd him, Silver Phil turns in the saddle an’ shoots. The lead goes "way off yonder—wild. Dan, grim and silent, rides on without returnin’ that fire. “ “Which I wouldn’t dishonor them guns of snine,’ says Dan, explainin’ later the pheenomenon of him not shootin' nonme, ‘by usinf 'em on varmints like this yere Silver Phil." *“As Silver Phil reorganizes for a second shot, his bronco stumbles. Siiver Phil pitches from the ¥iddle an’ strikes the grass some ten foot to one side. As he half rises, Dan lowers on him like the swoop.of a hawk. It's as though Dax’ cut to snatch a handkerchief from the ground. “As Dan flashes by he swings from the saddle an’ his right hand takes a troo full grip on that outlaw’s back an’ shoul- der. Dan has the thews an’ muscles of & cinnamon b'ar an’ Silver Phil is only a scrap of a man. Ay Dan straightens up In the stirrups, he tosses this Silver Phil on high to the length of his long arm; an’ then he dashes him ag’inst (“‘« flint-hard ch t manoovt we-all witness m mebby a quarter of a mile--which t y oover thata-v This Silver Phil Is red bones an’ bleedin’ is shore remorse nothin’ but sha pulp. He st them plains like he's come from the clouds, an’ is dead without a quiver. “Bury him? No! says Old Man En- right to one who asks the question. ‘Let Bim find his bed where he falls.’ “While Enright speaks, an' jest as Dan rides up to us at the Red Light, & raven drops from above, over where this Silver Phil is layin’. Then another raven an’ another—black an’ wide of wing—comes floatin’ down. A coyote yell—first with the short, sharp yelp, an’ then with that multiplied rattle of laughter like forty wolves at once. That daylight how! of the coyote allers means death. Shore; raven an’' wolf is gatherin’. As Enright says: ‘This yere Silver Phil ain't lkely to be lonesome none to-night.” “‘Did you kill him, Dan? asks Faro Nell. ‘““Why, no, Nellie,” replies Dan, as he swings outen the stirrups an’ beams on Faro Nell. She's still a bit onstrung, bein’ only a little girl when all is said. ‘Why, no, Nellie; I don’t kill him none specific as Wolfville onderstands the word; but I dismisses him a whole lot; an’ the kyard comes jest the same for Stiver Phil’ ™