The evening world. Newspaper, September 24, 1915, Page 19

RAW oe - — so 0) Noor * ree eine OnAPT Ine Bot ie the emt le te Rorteee Ter te te La Pew ote * arene ort Mme F eeeietene Mow Pimwtert ore tm Peat proper e te Fon Welsh, where they viet Mar Majer idemrd lemeard, courting Len, MecBier cine borne tami has quarreiied ©) teetmpeten 7 ie handling vita, Moetiee calle his chit « ‘ © private and pit tn the quart Bempe for Whtrty days, “Rare” toile Low of ber father's sui Mutter's dentin and induce Lewant te ernd 6 ome in search of the murderer, Mae Rae is reicased and ou bie Wey to join the pome be finds 6 pepmaster’s wagon train whieh hes just Bere held up and robbed. With Barge and too tronpers, Hicks ant Gregory, Maciiar sare om trail of the bold-ap men, Accidentally Mac- And Serge Giwover Mank Rowen's cache, only overpower them. Momelens, they mart « de ft mounted police commimioued to arr them for ell the crimes comumitted by the mys. terious bandite, They overpower the police end later getting & friend, Piegsn, to join Outlawed, ageinet baudl CHAPTER X. (Continued. ) In the Camp of the Enemy. AT night we camped west of Lost River, lying prudently in @ brush-grown coulee, for we were within sight of the police camp, by grace of a telescope in the hands of Piegan Smith, By sundown the ground had dried so that a horse could lift foot without rateing an abnormal quantity R of the Northwest along with it. The wind veered still further into the west, plowing strong and warm, sucking greedily the surplus moisture from the saturated earth. Bo wo held a council of war and decided that, since the footing sed to be normal in the morning, Ry trosoe might scatter out, and It de- hooved us to get in touch with them at once; wherefore Piegan rode away to spend a night in the police camp, with a tale of horses strayed away from Riaker's outfit to account for his wan- dering. From where we were, he could make tt by riding a little after dark. “Gregory and Goodell, you know,” Mac told him. “Hicks 1s tall—six feet, J reckon. A square-shouldered, good- juoking brute, with light hair and steel gray eyes and a short brown mus- tache. DBevans is a second edition of him, only not so tall by two or three inches. He has an ugly scar—a knifo cut—acroas the back of his right hand; you'll know him by that if you see him. Lie around there in the morning, if you can manage it, till they start, and notice which way those fellows xo. The sooner we get our hands on ‘one or more of them, the better tt will ‘de for us. Of course, if anything out of the ordinary comes up, you'll have to use your own judgment. And we'll p wait here, unless some of them jump us up.” “Right yuh are, old-timer,” Piegan wesponded. “I'll do the best I'can. An’ you fellers better keep the glass. You can keep cases on anybody that shows up, before they get very close, with it. Wo long!" and away he went. ‘When he was out of sight we built @ tiny fire in the scrub-for it was twilight, at which time keeh eyes aro needed to detect elther amoke or fire, except at close range—and cooked our supper, That done, we smothered what few embers remained and laid us down to sleep. That wasn't much of a success, however; we put in most of the time reckoning up the chances for and against the success of our lit- tle expedition. “It's a wonder,” I mused, as tho thought occurred to me, “that Lya quit Walsh 80 soon. Why didn't she stay a while longer, and see if these famous preservers of the peace wouldn't manage to round up the men who killed her father? Why, hang it! nhe didn't even walt to see If you found that stuff at the Stone — and Lessard must have told her somebody “nad gone to look for it.” Mackae snapped out an oath tn the darkness. “Lessard simply lost his head,” he growled. “Blast him! he had the nerve to ask her to marry him, ‘And he was so infernal insistent about {t that she pulled out In self-defense, ‘That's v hy she left so suddenly,’ Well, I couldn't blame Lessard for that, so long as he acted the gentleman about it. In fact, it was to be ex ed of most any man who happened to ve tnrewn in contact with Lyn Rowan por any tengun of Line, T can't Lousy & Jay claim to being immune myself; omly my attack hadn't been virulent enough to make me indulge any false hopes. It wasn't a crime to care for a woman, but Mac naturally would be Prejudiced in a case of that kind, which explained his profane mention of Les- sard, I disliked that big, autocratic major, but it was pure instinctive an- * tpathy on my part. We dropped that subject like a hot potato. It was one that, so far, we had shied around. Moreover, it was beside the point to indulge in footless theory; we knew beyond doubt who had robbed Us, and the first move in the tangle A Treasure tiunt Story With a New Twist By BERTRAND W. SINCLAIR The Evening World Daily Magazine. Friday. September 24. 1915 GOLD A bhieteetend ~ q ‘ te unravel wae te lay bande if necessary, and peoover th | means cow hearing, and ished, what played would videntiy when that we leveard develop of tteelf ever part by 1 dened off weculation, and fre 1 slept in five brain n then minute hy wearving tl day leh snatches Dawn brought an access of caution, | we forebore buliding @ fre ur horses, which had grazed in the open all night, we eaddied and tied out of | sight in the brush. Phen w a cold! breakfast and belook ourselves to the nearest hilltop, w screened by a huddle of rocks, we could wateh for | the coming of Miewan; and, incident. | ally, keep an eye on the redeoat canip, | though the distance was too great,| even with a «lh to observe their movements with any degree of cer- tainty. “They're not setting the earth afire looking for anybody,” Mac reflected, when the sun was well started on ite antemeridian Journey and there was, no sign of riders leaving the cluster of tents, “Ah, there they go.” A squad of mounted men, tn clo formation, #0 that their scarlet jacket stood out against the prairie green like @ flame in the dark, rode away from the camp, halted on the first hill an instant, then scattered north, south and w After that there was no stir visible around the commissary wagon. “They're all going the other wa: and they aren't going to move cam MacRae murmured, one eye glued to the telescope end. “Now we ought to see Piegan pretty soon.” i But it was some Ume ere we lald eyes on that gentleman. We didn’t see him leave the camp—which occasioned us no worry, however, because lone rider could easily get away from there unseen by us. Only when an hour had dragged by, and then another, did we begin to get anxious, I was lying on my back staring up in the sky, all sorts of possible misfortune looming large in my mind, when Mac, sweep- ing the hills with the telescope, grunt- ed satisfaction, and I turned my head in time to see Piegan show on high ground a mile to the south of us. “whi he doing off there?” I won- dered. “Nobody's following him that he needs to ride plumb around us.” “He isn't riding for hie health, you can gamble on that,” Mao replied. “Anyway, you'll soon know; he's turning this way.” Plegan swung into the coulee on a fast lope, and we stole carefully down to meet him. In the brush by our horses Piegan seated himself tatlor- fashion on the ground and began to fill his pipe. “First place,” he said, “we're a little behind time. Your birds has took wing an’ flew the coop.” “Took wing—how and when?" Mac demanded. “You'll sabe better if F tell you how I made out,” Piegan answered, after a pause to light his pips. “They was ‘most all in bed, asleep, when I got there last night. But this mornin’ I got a show to alze up the whole bunch, and nary one uh the Jaspers I wanted to see was there. So I begins to quiz while we was eatin’ breakfast, lettin’ on I wanted t' see that Injun scout. One feller up an’ tella me he guesses I'll find him at Fort Walsh. After a while I gets next to some more, and when I puts it all together, this here's the way she stacks up: Lessard pulls out with a pack outfit for Walsh that same afternoon you fellers set them three buck policemen @ foot, takin’ several men with him—Gregory in the bunch, An’ accordin’ to orders which he left behind, Goodell an’ Hicks an’ another feller, which I guess ts Bevans, most likely, takes another packadero layout an’ starts yesterday afternoon, presumably for Medicine Lodge. An’ that's all I found out from the police- men.” Mac swore and commented: “We're just as far behind as ever,” “Hold your hosses!” Plegan grinned knowingly. “I sald that's all I found out from the reds—but I did a little prognosticatin’ on my own hook. I fig- ured that if them three fellers hit the trail yesterday afternoon when that storm let up, they'd make a mighty good track in this sloppy goin’; an’ I was curious to know if they lit straight for the Lodge. So when the bunch rides off, 1 quits the camp an’ swings round in a half circle, an’, sure enough, finds their mark, Three riders and two pack horses. Easy trackia'? Well, I should say! They'd cut a trail in them doby flats Iike:a bunch uh runnin’ buffalo, Bay, where 1s Medt~ eine Lodge?" “Oh, break away, Plegan patiently exclaimed. “What are you trying to get it? You know where Medicine Lodge is as well as I do.” “Sure I do,” Piegan retorted spirited- ly, @ wicked twinkle in his shrewd old eyes. “But it must ‘a’ moved lately, for them fellers rode north a ways then turned square around and struck southwest, I followed their trail out here to where you seen me turn this way-if yuh was watchin’, Poor cuss- es!" Plegan grinned broadly whily he voiced his mock sympathy, “They're lost, L reckon, It really ain't safe for Mac im- rey ATUL LICL ‘TABLE For FAT PEOPLE HAVING SMAUW DINING WHY NOT DOUBLE DECKER For. SMALL BEDROONS | MOVING VAN DIRECT To FLAT WHY NoT AEROPLANE MOVING VAN? ‘em to be cavortin’ over the prairie with all that boodle. I reckon we'll Just naturally have to follow their trail an’ take it away from ‘em, They ain't got such a rip roarin’ start of us—an’ I'm the boy can foller that track from hell to breakfast! So straddle them caballos an’ come on.” CHAPTER XI, A Master-Stroke of Villainy. IERGAN made no vain boast when he asserted his ability to follow that trio of thieves, A lifetime on the plains had made him own brother to the Indian in the matter of nosing out dim trails, The crushing of a tuft of grass, @ broken twig, all the haif- hidden signs the feet of horses and men leave behind, held a message for him; nothing escaped his eagle eye; and he did it half-consctously, with- out an effort. The surpassing skill of it didn’t strike me so forcibly at frst, for I can read an open trail as well as the average cowman, and the mark ot their passing lay plain before us; the verlest pilgrim, new come from graded roads and fenced pastures, could have counted the number of their steps—each hoof had stamped its impression indelibly in the soft loam as clearly as @ eteel die-cut in soaked leather, But that was where they had ridden while the land was still plastic from the rain; further, wind and sun had dried the ridge turf to its normal firmness and baked the doby flats filnt-hard; yet Plegan crossed at @ lope places where nei- ther MacRae nor I could glimpse a sign—and when we would come again to soft ground the trail of the three Tose up to confront us and bid us marvel at the keenness of his vision. We followed in the wake of Piegan Gmith with what speed the coulee- gashed prairie permitted, and about 1 or 2 o'clock halted to eat’ a bite and let our horses graze, Within ten min- utes of starting again we dipped into @ canyon and came on the place where the three had made their first camp— @ little patch of dead ashes, a tew half-burned sticks, and the close- picked grass where each horse had circled a picket-pin, There was little to see. Little, at least, that I could see, beyond dim tracks leading away from the spot. These we had followed but a hun- dred yards when Piegan pulled up with an exclamation, “Blamed if they hain't got com- pany, from the looks uh things he grunted, squinting at the ground. “You fellers wait here a minute. I want to see which way them other tracks come in," He loped back, swinging in north of the camp ground, While he was gone Mac and I leaned over in our saddles and scanned carefully the grass-car- petra bottom land, That the hoofs of passing horses had beaten down the heavy, damp grass was plain enough, | whether the hoofs of five or ten we could only guess. Piegan turned, rode to and around where the fire had been, then back to us. “All right, fellers,” he said. “I was sure there was more live stock left that campin’ place than wé follered in. They come from the north—four hosses, two uh them rode an’ the other two led, I think, from the way they weaved around a-crossin’ a washout back yonder.” A mile or so farther we crossed a ‘bare, sandy stretch on the flat bottom of another coules, and on its receptive surface the trail lay like a printed page—nine distinct, separate horse tracks. “Five riders an’ four extra hosses, if I ain't read the sign wron, Ple- gan remarked casually, “Say, we'll have our hands full if we bump into this bunch unexpected, eh?” “We'll take a chance,” Mac answer- ed grimly. “But we'll make it @ sur- prise party, if we can.” From there on Piegan set a pace that taxed our horses’ mettle—~we were well mounted, that was one con- solation, all three of us good for a hundred-mile jaunt between sun and oun, if it came to a show-down. He kept the trail with the careless ease of time-tried confidence, head cocked on one side like a saucy meadow- lark, and whistling itches of “Hell Among the Yearlin’s” as though the Prospect of @ brush with outlaws was Pleasing in the extreme. The afternoon was on its last lap when we came in sight of Stony Crossing. Along the crest of a ridge, midway between Stony Crossing and Ten-mile Spring, where we left Baker's outfit that rainy morning, the trail we followed wound deviously. ‘The mud and high water had held the freighters, for we could aes the white-sheeted wagons and a blur of catile by the cottonwood grove where Hank Rowan made his last stand. MacRae eyed wistfully the distant wagons when they came tn sight. On a line between the Crossing and the Spring Piegan pulled up again; and this time the cause of bis halting required no explanation, The bunch had stopped, as the jumbled hoof- marks bore witness, and the trail of two horses led away toward Ten-mile Spring. “Darn it all,” Plegan grumbled. “Now what d’yuh reckon’s the meanin’ uh that? Them two has lit straight for Baker's layout. What for “Well"—Mae thought a moment— “that's hard to tell, But Jf there was anything they wanted, they weren't taking any risk to go in there, you know, They've worked it pretty smooth all round, We're the only men in the country that know why they're pulling out like this—and they x f 4 FAT COUPLE ara OTHER IN 5 SER Tl Bato that we daren’t go in and report it; because they've managed to put ue on the dodge. They know headquar- ters wouldn't listen to a yarn like we'd toll—they’d have time to get plumb to Mexico while we sucked our thumbs in the guard-house and tho rest of the police force got wise by degrees. “T'll tell you what we'd better do: one of us head in for the Crossing, and find out for sure if any of those fellows came to the outfit, and what they wanted, and who they were And, seeing you're not known to be in on this play, Piegan, you'd better Ko, There might be @ stray trooper in that camp, and the same would be mighty awkward for one of ue, Sarge and I can nose along this trail slow, and you can easily catch up.” “It's & go with me,” Plegan agreed, and departed for the Crossing. Thenceforth we rode at a walk; and even at that it was hard enough to follow the faint impression. In the course of an hour a cluster of black specks appeared on thé high benoh- jand, coming rapidly our way. Mao- Kae brought the telescope to bear on them at once, for there was always the chance of mounted policemen cutting in on our trail; by this time the riders of every post along the Une undoubtedly were on the watch for us. “It's Plegan and another fellow,” Mac announced, after « brief survey. “And they're leading two horses—and they seem to be in # hurry.” We got off and waited for them, wondering what the extra horses might portend, They swung down to us on @ run, and it needed no second glance at the face of Piegan Smith to tell me that he had met up with a fresh batch of trouble, His eoragsly beard thrust fdrward aggressively, and his deep sot eyes fairly blazed be- tween narrowed lids. “Slap your saddles on them fresh hosses,” he grated harshly from the back of a thick-ohested, lean-flanked gray. “Let the others go—to hell if they want to!” “What's up?” I asked @harply, and Mac flung the same query over one shoulder as he fumbled at the tight- drawn latigo knot. Piegan stood tn Me etirups and raised a clenched fist; the seamed face of him went purple under ite tan, and the words came out lke the chal- lenge of a range bull, “Them—them low-down —— —— has got your girl!" he roared, ‘The latigo dropped from MacRae’s hand, “What!” He turned on Piegan with savage unbelief, “I eaid it—1 said it! me!" Plegan yelled, Yuh heard “At daylight this mornin’, That Hicks—short mus- to tache an’ yaller hair—he come Baker's as they hooked up to lea the Spring. He give her a note, an’ she dropped everything an’ jumped on the hoss he brought with him an’ USE Your op Sumner SAILOR FoR SHabe ne ins, KioTHER WAY Ts USE ‘Your, SUMMER SAILOR NEw Door FoR Rooms To SHALL FoR Two ey're dead gate i hit the earth there's before Were cae for thirty miles before vere up their Don't yuh Worry none, oid boy/” he bejlowed at Old Myjun Beith’ wee yur Ged! 1 could ‘a ented mi selt when Ih | oleeer # p I told y has mound wee the fret sin wee wrong an of curses, Maciiar, hard-eyed, bie mouth tring twitebing « bit fion w the red sunset at of dry, warm wind, tab ell of burning grass, strongly in our faces, A bottom of the slope, in the depthe of walled coules, where the eve ving shadows were muatering for hy raid on the gilded up- ircled a grove of rustling poplars, and jerked our horses back on their haunghes at sight of a scariet | blotch among the gloomy trees, nodded comprehen- I knew what be was think! coke and a gale CHAPTER XII. Honor Among Thieves. % knew, even as our fingers closed mechanically on the aix-ahooters in our belte, that we hadn't come un- awares on the men we want- or there would have ms an oxrhange of leaden courtesies long be- fore we managed to get in their im- mediate vicinity, It was unlikely that they would cease to exercise the cun- ning and watchfulness which had, 90 far, carried through with flying col- ora their infernal achemes. And a second glance showed that the svar- let coat belonged to a man who half sat, half lay on the ground, his ehoul- dora braced against a fallen tree. We got off our horses and went cautious- ly in among the shadows. “Be not afraid; it ta I!" Goodell raised bis head with an effort, and greeted us mockingly, “I a2 you can #06, hors de combat. your pleasure, gentlemen?” ‘The tone of him and the pallid fe: turen vouched for the truth of his statement. The fight colored shirt showing between the open lapels of his jacket was stained a telltale crim- son, and the hand he held against his breast was dabbled and streaked rode away. They ain't seen hide nor with the blood that oozed slowly from hair uh her since. She was cryin’ when she left. had been shot resistin’ arrest, an’ wanted to see her. Aw, hurry up! They ain't got but twelve hours etart —an’, by the Eternal, I'll smell ‘em out in the dark!" It struck me like a knife-thrust in the back; so deviish and unexpected, that for half a second I had the same half-#ick feeling that came to mo the night I stooped over Hans Rutter and gasped with horror at what the fiends had done, Mac went white to the ps, but the full import of Pte- Ban's message stunned him to #l- lence. The bare possibility of Lyn Rowan at the dubious mercy of those ruthless brutes was something that called for more than mere words, He hesitated only a moment, pulling nervously at the saddle- strings, then straightened up, and tore at the cinch fastening with fingera that trembled. After that no one epoke, While Mao and I transferred our saddles to the Baker horses, Piegan swunk down from his gray, and, opening the pack on the horse we led, took out @ ttle bundle of flour and bacon and coffee, and tied it behind bis saddle. A frying-pan and coffee-pot he tossed to me, Then we mounted and rode away, stripped down to fighting trim, no packhorse to hamper our move- mente. Of daylight there yet remained & scant two hours and a half by which we could hope to follow a trail, Pie- wan leaned over his saddle-horn and took the hills and hollows, wherever the trail led, with a rush that un- rolled the milee behind us at a mar- vellous rate, For a full hour we galloped etlent- ly, matching the speed of fresh, wiry horses against the dying day; no sound in all that wilderness of brown coulee-walls afd gray-green prairie but the stehdy beat of hoofs and the purr of a rising breeze trom the east Then I became aware that Piegan, watching the ground through halft- closed eyes, was talking over his shoulder, From riding @ little be- hind, to give him room to trail, we urged our horses alongside. rs camp,” be said, without looking up, “would ‘a’ come in @ holy minute if there'd been hosses for ‘em to ride, But they only had enough saddle stock along to wrangle the bulls—an’ I took three ub the best they had. An’ three of us ts plenty, anyhow. We kain't ride up on them fellers now, an’ go t' shootin’. They're all together again, I seen, back aways, where them two tracks angled back from the spring, They must ‘a’ laid up at that camp we passed tll some time last night— seein’ that damned Hicks come t’ Baker's early this mornin’, An’ if they didn't travel very fast to-day— He said you fellers under the pressing fingers; the leaf- mold under him was saturated with it. “Where is the it of the bunch?” MacRae asked him evenly, “You may be hurt, but that doesn't clear your skirts with us.” “You have a bone to pick with me, eh?” Goodell murmured, “Well, I don't blame you, But don't adopt the role of inquisitor—because I'm the same as @ dead man, and dead men tell no tales, My mouth will be closed forever in a@ little while—and I can die as easily with it unopened, But if you'll get me @ drink of water, and be decent about it, I will a tale unfold, I assure you it will be to your interest to give me @ hearing.” Piegan strode out of the timber and unfastened the coffeepot from my saddle; @ series of pot holes on the flat nearby lay brimful from the re- cent rain, It ten't in the average man to be uttterly callous to the suffering of an- other, Notwithstanding the deviltry Goodell and his confederates had perpetrated, I couldn't help feeling sorry for him—what little I'd seen of him had been likable enough. I found it hard to look at him there and be- Meve him gullty of murder, robbery and kindred depredations. He was beyond reach of earthly justice, any- way; and one can't help forgiving much to @ man who faces death with & emile, “Are you in any pain, Goodell?” I asked. “None whatever,” he answered weakly. “But I'm @ goner, for all that, I have a very neat knife thrust in the back. Also he shot me twice —through the lungs. You see in me,” he drawied, “a victim of chivalry, I have played for big stakes; I've robbed gayly and killed a man or two in the way of fighting; all of which site Nghtly on my conscience, even though my chickens have come home to roost, But there are two things I wish you to remember distinctly: I have not made war on & woman—nor tortured a wounded old man.” “You mean Rutter?’ Mao squatted beside him and leaned forward eager- ly. Piegan returned with the wat as Goodell started to reply. He swal- lowed thirstily, took breath, and went on: “Yes, I mean Rutter, I'll tell you quick, for I may not last long, and when I'm done you'll know where to lock for them. I started this thing— the holdup busines#—no matter why. Lessard was in the hole, gambling-- I hinted the idea to him; he jumped at it, as I thought he would, And"—— “Lessard!” I interrupted, “Is he in on this?" “Is ha in on it!" Goodell echoed, “He is the whole thing.” Well, | had suspected as much, but it was @ surprise to have my suspi- cions confirmed, I glanced at Mac which ain't Ukely, ‘cause they prob- and Pirgan, What te f° 1 wes eure of Ht alt ” red ey ney om Gan iereiy enremeed oe “l wanted to get thet Government the pay ween, that wae Hovde continued. me time ahead Thee f whe cord put evans on your trail, followed you lifted the can to hie lips agate 4 be (hanked me eourteousll “Then we got the paymeay Leweard conceived the they had gone #0 far that panned out. We had « etake then. Lessard joooted the we, funds J when he left the iast time. “about (wo hundred thousand or, rather, they bave,” hi gether, Lessard, on account hie position, was the braine—we did the work. © planned, to & clean-up, 4! out of the country—whi tinea fie authority to throw them off the track, ri appeared, and him do’ a) Geeldin the force and go with us. I believe he hatched this latest she refused him, I fairly mad about her. “We couldn't ford Milk River on account of the storm. You tracked ust You saw our last camp? Yea! Woll, we left there at midnight, EF ity HE were wheels within wheels; a kid: ping had never occurred to me. realized that she methods of winning @ wife and primitive mode. ne “I have put myself beyon outlaw, thief, wha t you wi Bot sensitive to harsh names, woman—a good woman! I have my own ideas about such things. And when we camped here I my mind, I told back. It was foolish, 1 ve gotten the drop and killed him While I are stabbed me fell, Lessard without compunction, Hicks I feed with him rom behind an ghot me twic ety to thelr wheel for the osSudeae, you and e, you and Smith know the mouth of Creek. camp there to ji it in three hours. ‘rom ee | follow Milk River to the Missouri a catch a down-river boat, But m2 pf You must. me another drink—and “I belteve you, Goodell.” MacRae “You're a white man, "lk re- 2 pons over him, if you did get off wrong. I’ member what you did—for her, there anything we can do for y Goodell shook his head, “I tell yor he said, and turned his face to look wistfully up at the eastern coulee vim, all tinted with the bias: eun- wet, “Ll hour—maybe two, It’ I've no complaint to y it is @ drink. You can do ig, fe for . yg Ww and the liv- are sorely in ni » It" be obit lonesome, that's al a) “No message for anybody?’ Mae Dersinted, r “No—yes!" The mocking, reckless tone crept into his voice gain. “It u should have speech with Lessard efore you put his light out tell him 1 go to fix up {pings for bim—a eu- perheated grid! low drift—vamos —hit the tral, The gorge at the mouth of Sage Creek. Goodby!” Soberly we fled out from among the trees, now bending in the of the wind, their leafy boughs ‘aod sibilantly, as though the wel: in the nodding sisters whispered branches that here was another thread full-spun and awaiting the keen shears, Soberly we swung to the saddle and rode slowly a A lest the quick beat of hoofs should bring a sudden pang of loneliness to the intrepid soul calmly anwaitt death under the shivering trees. think that one effort to right a will more Laas wipe out the blac! score aga! him when th Life is balanced. 9. ee A little way beyond the grove Piewan drew rein, and held up one hand, “Poor devil!" he muttered. “He's — us.” jut he wasn't, He was fight off the lonesomeness, dying there the falling dusk, with the wind whin- nging to himself, as chants his death. song when the red flame of the tor, ture-fre bites into his flesh, Sing heigh, sing ho, Javalter ng ‘nel “atta, far ‘thy Caowust™ Gevtlwnen all, turn out, wp out: Deee —doee- conden : WoT ese eas Sta heats downt Once, twice, the chorus of that od ' English royalist song rose up out of the grove, Then it died away, and we turned to go, And as we struck home the s#pu thinking of mouth of Bage Creek and the aark that was closing down, a six-shooter barked sharply, Lack there among the, trees, I swung my horse around in his tracks, and raced him to the poplara with a lump in my throat. big heart had failed him; ma: the shadow seemed too and black to face longer, lying alone in that deep hollow in the earth; perhaps the night looked long and dreary, and he want- ed to go out with the sun, He lay be- the fallen tree, quite dead, his staring blankly at the darkening sky, and the eix-shooter in his hand, as he had held it for the last time, I otraightened his arms and covered Gis face with the blood-stained coat, left him to his lo! sleep. And and Piegan iii thelr hats and whispered “Amen” in all sincerity as we turned. away, Cp Be Continued) @