The evening world. Newspaper, December 4, 1911, Page 19

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By Charles Alden Seltzer Fhe Best Cowboy Story Written - in the Past Ten Years bad (Copyright, 4914, by the Outing Publishing Company.) - CHAPTER 1. a The Stranger at Dry Bottom, tawm burst suddenly into view, the htt ened its pace, only to feé! the re.ts gruffly discouraging haste. pepy pranced gingerly, alert, champing the bit impatiently, picking its way ever ROM the cresi of Taree Alile siope tne man on the pony could see the town of Dry Bottom stragwiing across the gray floor of the flat, ite low, fquat buildings looking like 60 many old boxes blown th wind, or unceremoniously Gumped there by a carele! f regardless, to cairy’ out the scneme of desolation, joAppurently the rider Was in no hurry, tai for, a8 the puny topped the rise and the animal pricked up its ears and qutcl tha lumpy hills of stone and cactus, but holding closely to the trail ‘The man lounged in the saddle, fully, bis eye! interest as he gazed yI.reckon that m tb ne rider pod mile and a drew the pony to a thé retns over the ad@@le, drew out his two 1 pommel! and re- the’ other, rolled the turned the guns to the had heard somethir reputation, and {i ex." he was merely preparink himself f “v7 emergency. For a moment afier he hud repaced the weapons he sat a the saddle. Then he shook out the re} spoke to the pany, and the little anim: af forward at a slow ‘ope. Dry ‘Ms the rider approached to within a) few hundred yards of the edge of town he became aware of a sudden commo- th. He reined in his pony, allowing tomavance at a walk, while with a efes he endeavored to search out the| ement. He did not haye long to watch for the expla: iba n had stepped out of the door o ey er the saloons, slowly walking twenty feet away from It toward the cefitre of the street. Immediately other had followed y Tole point Just outside the door, Fo fofe reason which was not apparent to thG rider they were giving the first man ‘af roo Pie, man was tall—nearly as tall as the rider—and in his, every maremnent ‘sure of himself, Ha w ‘ seemingly about thirty-five with shitty, insolent eyes and @ hard Mouth who: lips were just now curved Inte @. se! conscious smile. The rider bad within fifty feet of ny at the extrom cause of the excit e end of the hitching f wat carelessly in the saddle, Joon. te fixed on the man. men who nad followed the first oat ‘to the number of @ dozen, man O‘pparently deeply. tnterested, the gh plainly skeptical. Av short, fat poor who was standing near th Joon = \th a haif-snee?, Sev ooked on W! door, loorotwer® ‘smiling blandly. A tall e age of the crowd, the extreme e man op te er waa, waucniog the man street BT in the tarious expre into their faces. Bul Not so th here was con lons to creer all were ‘silent n e mmait personified, and yet a a maddening In- sion told all that » Was abort to do je closest attention A bak upon whieh ‘the in- He was the universe revolved. terest 0) “man in the street eeomed But the many nis rapidly swelling not aisturity stood in the piace he had audio. pis! eyes roving over golociess on) smpany, bis thin ex- ee lips opening @ very ttle to prey words tof silver Dollar that in the af showed, not bellevir goin’ to show you! Tle reached down and took Up & can} nia feel, removing had Jain at bis ; teat ey Hithographed tabel, which had the Taare of @ large tomato in the centre of It ‘ shinin in the White sun- Raned ae man placed the can in his hand and drew bis pistol with Aght tO rie he tossed the can into the alr, Me it till rose his Weapon expioded, fan shook spasmodically and turned over Then in rapid succe iride Sust di 20 mo the smoking weapon in his hand. je tall man on the extreme edge of uns, one after | the ning Mis pistols {10'!"" He now t May tn { Qin’ anut do it!" everal men tried, but none equalled | But these came only | | silent taunt, The ride | mockery glinting his eyes. now approached to} the man, halting bis | nea: ‘eirted the front of the sa-| avely, Other men had| tn the street. “Plainly. | The can Was revealed, | ton | lowed four other explosions, the las: | fore the con reached ‘ground. ‘The man smiled, still hold- 18 strong, weli-knit body swaying @race- haded by the brim of his hat, narrowed with slight mockery and eadily at the town that Jay before him. Dry Bottom," he said finally, mentally taking tm ite “If that's 80, I've only got twenty miles to gi Gown the slope, and still a the group now stepped forward and examined the can, while several other men crowded about to look. There were exclamations of “He's done it, boy: man, holding in five places rprise. cried the tall he can aloft. ‘Bored it vowd. “I reckon that's some @hoote ew a glance of cha.- lenge and detiance about him, ‘I've got @ hundred dollars to say that there mar fir m man's pertormance. Many of n could not hit the can at all. The Hirst man watched their effort: bh ng his lips as man after all had tried. Watching closely, the rider caught an expre: of alight disappointment on the man's face, The rider was the only man «who had not yet tried his skill with the plstol, and ‘the man in the} street now looked up at him, his eyes glittering with an insolent challenge, As it happened, the rider glanced at the shooter at the instant the latter had rned to look up at him, Their eyes fairly, the shooter’ conveying a smiled, sligat m Apparently the stranger d!d not care to try his skill. He still sat lazily in the saddle, his gaze wandering langutd- ly over the crowd. Tne latter plainly ex- pected him to take part in the shooting mateh and wae impati action, wo-gun, he totes them two guns for?" The shooter heard and turned toward nan who had spoken, his lips the wreathed satirioally, “I reckon hi who had spoken, who had revealed interest raised @ hand, checking further com- ment by an idle ana left, Therefore the He stood erect, facing in this here town can | over his in-| sneered a mun who stood! the safoon door, “I wonder what | wouldn't shoot nothin’ with them,” oe sald, addressing the man Several men laughed. The tall man fore now ‘That offer of a hundred to the mi who can beat that shootin’ stilt goes: he deciared. “An' I'm taking off the condition. The man that tries don't have to belong to Dry Bottom. No stranger ts barred The stranger's glance shooter's. The latter grinned fellnely. Thea the rider spoke. The crowd gav him its polite attention. ven voice, singul But 1 shootin’, He turned to the tall, gra faced man. “I ain't got no hundred, he said, “but I'm goin’ to show you.” He still sat in the saddle, But now with an easy motion he swung down nd hitched his pony to the rail. CHAPTER I. The Stranger. Shoots. HB stranger seemed taller on the ground than in the saddle and an adtairable breadth of shoulder and slenderness of waist told eloyuently of strength. He could not have veen over twenty-five or six, Yet certain hard lines about his mouth, the glint of mockery in his eyes, te pronounced forward thrust of the chin, tae inde- finadle force that seemed to radiate frow him, tokd the casual observer that here was a man who must be ap- proached with car But apparently the shooter saw no suca signs. In the first glance that had been exchanged between the two men there had been a lack of ordinary cor- diality, And now, as the rider elid down from his pony und advanced to- ward the centre of the street, the shooter's ips curled, Writhing through t m came slow-spoken words, “You runnin’ sheep, stranger?” ‘The rider's lips amiled, but his eyes were steady and cold. in them shone @ flash of cold humor. He stoi quietly contemplating his insulter, Smiles appeared on the faces of several of the onlookers. Tho tall man with the grave face watched with critical eye, The insult had been d Mberate, and many men crouched, plainly ‘expecting @ serious outcome. S’Matter, Pop? 3% -; LETS Go Over To Gus’ PLACE AND PecuParaTe ive Maen Jus7 an tour GETTING THis Owe [Sammy and the Subway; the Quest of a Seat PARDON ME Mis$— 1S THis Seat ReseRveD?) — eat oN Vy nave tit Hap any NO- THESE ARE NeT— WHERE DO We BLEActeRS. You GET iT] “ 5 §, is 2, £ ) 1 D sasacrsd icin dike sca aAaaa eestpeeaeoemeimest mumenaen **1 can shoot some. But 1 a.n't' runnin’ ’round shootin’ men without-cause. / atn’t shootin’ unless they crow me mighty close!” But the stranger made no mov But when tt was within five feet of we his guns, and when he answered he ind the stranger's gun spoke again h careened sideways, and fell, shattered, to the street, talr'y t distant from the stranger. Several men sprang forward to exam- ‘I reckon you think yo! he said quietly. are, you ain't showed {t much—buttin’ Jing it, in with that there wise observation. there's some men who shootin’ at a man ts more excitin’ than) gun ¢ jated the tall man in he didn't pull his he'd throwed the can! He approach an awed tona, There was a voice now. He hie eyes cold and alert. sneered experimentally. dience smiled. But the tall man now stepped for- Play, | said the tal “1 reckon of the crowd forward slightly, The shooter Again the au- | |) ed, loudly pro fers ability with the slx-shoote |latter took his honors light! ing smile again on his fac ‘m lookin’ for a man who can shoot,” when the last man ad disappeared into the ming the atran- at nosin’ to the T up to you to make good.” The stranger smiled, some shootin’ The tall man smiled mitthie: Some one dived into the Silver DoNar | Particular about what you shoot at?” he and returned fn a flash with anot he etranger took, f reckon you've goin’ to show you some real shootin he returned. You got another can?’ stranger, ghtened coldly, “Lused to have that havit,” be returned, done, Then, smiling, he \ovk 4 position in the centre of the street, the © bis right hand, He did noc draw his weapon as the | *tranger, with an ironic sn shooter had done, Queried the tall man. d loowely in| the can, the left swinging hree guosses,” turned the etrang ing With the imockery that the tall man in them befor shoot. Sheers reached tue faces of sev-) 1° eral men in the crowd. ‘fue siivoter| *4 dd & placauve I ain't wantin’ to butt into your b. :l- ne! twenty feet in the air, propelled by the| Gyr right hand of the stran if any cne around here knowed “This town didn't send any reception stranger's right [committee to meet me, grasped the butt of the Weapon at O15| smiled the re Was a flush as the gun | @ gasp of astonisnuent from | Je. “You willin’ your guns vy the #n0ce | month? ‘or me for a hundred a Tae strange: in began | tall im. the first shot of its desce of the first bullet siriiing it. looked steadily into the its Interrupted fall, only ae ve been right handy still another bulley atcu an infinitesimal pause, | goine. and then twice more ihe can shive: and jumped, No man in the crowd but that the bullets were strlic ‘The can Was still ten f and well out from the latter whipped his weapon to a ieve,, the bullet striking the can and driving tr twenty feet from him. Then tt dropped. gin’ the Two Diamond, over rowed quinaicaily, What you wantin’ of a gun-man?”’ returned the other shortly “Figger on! Ooprrignt, 1911, ag on pd By C. M. Payne Oe ewaneanaommaie ( . [ Buy Thats NoTine! Just CAVONT A ~~ SHRUMP S@® Wy \THAT Lona! |\ > ~ ATUER WERE HAVING, CAUGHT fA FISH THAT NICE WEA ISNT iT? , was THAT THE ; Tne YOu CavonT Te December 4, Shootin’ amt he questioned, Stafford turned. I've got the right one.” He seised toe arm in @ confidential grip ho explained, “1 don't know just where I'm at. The rustier workin’ on the herd, been be stopped. I've sent over to Katom to an Named Ned Ferguson, waoe for Sid Tucker of the “Tuckor wrote me quite @ while back, tellin’ me that this man wes plum alt: ul rusuers, Me was to come Diamond two weeks ag. But he ain't showed up, an’ I've about conciided (iat ne ain't comia’, An’ oi come over to Dry Bottom te fad a Yon'vé found one, smiled the Stafford drew out a handfu: sles and pressed them into hand. * a e Two Diamond now," etter wait @ day or two, ao's no one will get wise. Come right to me like you Was wantin’ @ job,” He started toward the hitching Fai. for his pony, hesitated and then alked back, “1 didn’t get your ni * he emiled. The stranger's eyes giittered humor. he said quietly. widened with astonish- right band went ou other's, eaid warmly, ‘that’ what I call luc Ferguson smiled. ‘Mobbe it's luck,” he returned. “But bofore I go over to work for you there's got to be an um: derstandin’. I o'n shoot some,” be con- \inued, looking steadily at Stafford, “but 1 ain't runnin’ around the country shootin’ men without cause. I'm willin to try an’ find your rustier for you, but I ain't shootin’ him—uniess he goes to crowdin’ me mighty close.” returned Staf- looking beck over his shoulder, “You'll sure be over?” he queeuioned. row,” stated Ferguson, Iie turned and went Inte the Stiver Stafford mounted his pony and | vomcnt Miss Gertrude Bryan serves rapidly out of town, (To Be Continued.) = * 4 “I'll be there the day after to-mor- ———— | out she looks well in boy's wotneatt ~*~ By Clare Victor Dwiggins “Littie Boy Blue’’ Flesh-Colored BY CHARLES DARNTON, 6“ "Li, BET that if it were raining soubrettes, I'4 be out with my wife” Buch is the melancholy nete struck in “Little Boy Blue.” But be ef G00d cheer! Boys needn't be blue just to carry out @ color scheme AS @ matter of fact, they can see more than they may have looked for at the Lyric Theatre. This te quite possible without the aid of opera glasses, For the chorus, without false pride, or padding of any description, comes out—er—cour- ageously. A foreign book may need interpre tavon at the hands of A. B, Thoma and Kdward A. Pauiton, but segs speak universal language. Superior young jadi ho are above tights meed not bother about “adaptors.” This point of view.i# the only one that cam be taken at the Lyric. The chorus catches the eye in @ flash, The first flash is afforded by four active mem- bere of the Bal Tabarin dancing set who may, peroape, be forgiven for met overdresuing their parte, But whee the scene changes to Sootland and kilts offer ¢. general opportunity for diapley there is @ great revetation. ‘The nased truth is that “Little Boy Blue” is flesn-coiored with bare lege Highland costumes are worn by the women just as they Gre by the men, Granung (that this sort ef thing nae been done before, may oce net ask whether it 49 @ good thing to dot For my part 1 think It is @ bad thing. fue stage hag everything to lose he VuS Marian ae Bupon. nothing to gain by an exhibition (nis Kind, A few years on we would have been shocked at such @ signt, but Ow it evidently is accepied as a common phase of musical comedy. There's fending it on artistic grounds, for seeing is believing that « choras looks better in Ugits than out of them. This sumgestion ts offered for what it te Worth to producers of musical comedy. Properly dressed, “Little Boy Biue' could not possibly excite any particular isoussion. It is @ perfectly sarmiese and mildly enteriaming affair, * Th music by Henri Bereny goes in one ear and out the other, while the book contains thing more original than & strawberry mark by which the youth: ful heir to ap estate im Scotland is dentitied. Betore arriving at this dramauo Tovara. in Paris, ‘* @ barmaid at the Bal She seems rataer out of pla not to mentiun Kits, when the second act driv eto Scotland, Mise Bryan has youth, with @ suggestion of in- experince, and @ voice tat may safely be called pleasing. She is neituer a “find,” nor # “prima donna,” bur sae has @ certain fresh charm, togetner with real grace that is recognized the moment she dances. Otis Harlan spread himself in the role of a detec- | tive and thanages to be fairly amusing in his fat, simple way. Miss Maude | Odell—who, by-the-way, should not ue | confused with the ane Ih beauty of the same peek del i bl Ls SY ie ‘ | year or two ago—helps to round out be Cuasins Mekhi @ Cast that also includes Joba Dunsmzre “Little Boy Blue" may please the children who are easily pleased. Betty Vincent’s Advice to Lovers The Ace io Marr:. : I 1s best to decide #0 important a question as your mar- we for yourself, Now, please do not misunderstand me. t 40 met approve of elopemenis or clandestine courtship And I don't think any young man or woman should marry before the axe of twenty-one, whether with or without the conseat of parents. They are nothing bu; children, ip the eyes of tho Inw, and their fathers and mothers have the nght to direct all thelr important movements But with @ man or woman grown the case fe different. It Is Imporcant to remember that one marries first of ail to please one's self, Of course one may lsten to advice or information from loving Ffelatives or friends, but the actual fina) decision ts purely @ personal matter, | Should He Ma ry Her? broke your engagement tor any euch reason. You are marrying your fan- MAN who signs himself “ " 80; your mother isn’t, " A ite “At my mother's expre! re! The First Call. quest I became acquainted with @ girl A MAN who signs bimsel “J, g and now We are engaged (uv be marred. 1h, Another and richer girl has moved ae es: the neighborhood, and my mother want t! no to pay attention to her after break. | the stenographer in our office and ke ing my engagement to the firat girl, Ie ask her if To S 1t proper for me to | emis right? wht call or Jd You would be disloyal and « cad if you It 18 quite proper fo; request, rT you to make the The Day's Good Stories rn bn | |Los'ng the Boundary Mark. Preis faa Ae ee habe Mm Cima, an he road, "He's growin’ shookia® bal [yee tre nottoed tt" aasent nelgabo: “Byer nce hla last iIlvem Be's bee Ms \ 1 eeT WF 1 Mae | MN wat Twew'Le | | MeveR Vote her 2 MOIR you might say, 1 hope be ain't worryin® epee |e alr Crlaup t. bei 1b do ‘bother him a bi ectmitien, well it might.” sald ee welghbor ig i ge . to's washing bimeals If be dossa't keep hat oo, or dear, cen Datel’ Loudes auaseage lt bere le >. Hats and Children, R, BERTHA C, DOWNEY at « tuneheo: tn Worcester,” Hens, eloquently "plented (or her tax oa" chlldlans “usbead? the Weeniagioa Star be = | ‘There would be fewer childless a tor Downey ended," there’ were tee extravagant wives, Take the caus of hats It ty nothing for @ woman to decorate nat with algieties and paradise plumes meu cau atford a:crotten uildren at the same time, ." said Doctor Downey, “E heard & steed he other day about @ man who suds meme 10 De succeeding now, oe acctet of itt! wees reine, eR, Ne st Coe el daughter, an deine, who pends ata alone, and'—— ame ¢ oor No le mare he alta ects