Genre Western. Page - 13
ow that Alice was dead and the fact that she, as a physician, had blundered, was too obvious to be denied, the situation held alarming possibilities. Consternation replaced her grief and the tears dried on her cheeks while again she paced the floor.
She was tired almost to exhaustion when she stopped suddenly and flung her shoulder in defiance and self-disgust. "Bah! I'm going to pieces like a schoolgirl. I must pull myself together. Twenty-four hours will tell the tale and I must keep my nerve. The doctors will--they must stand by me!"
Dr. Harpe was correct in her surmise that her suspense would be short. The interview between herself and the husband of her dead friend was one she was not likely to forget. Then the coroner, himself a physician, sent for her and she found him waiting at his desk. All the former friendliness was gone from his eyes when he swung in his office chair and looked at her.
"It will not be necessary, I believe, to explain why I have sent for you, Dr. Harp
iscussed him acrimoniously.
"By gosh, a man might do worse than locate that Native Son for asilver mine," Cal began, eyeing the interloper scornfully. "It'splumb wicked to ride around with all that wealth and fussy stuff.He must 'a' robbed a bank and put the money all into a ridingoutfit."
"By golly, he looks to me like a pair uh trays when he comesbow-leggin' along with them white diamonds on his legs," Slimstated solemnly.
"And I'll gamble that's a spot higher than he stacks up in thecow game," Pink observed with the pessimism which matrimony hadgiven him. "You mind him asking about bad horses, last night?That Lizzie-boy never saw a bad horse; they don't grow 'em wherehe come from. What they don't know about riding they make up forwith a swell rig--"
"And, oh, mamma! It sure is a swell rig!" Weary paid generoustribute. "Only I will say old Banjo reminds me of an Irish cookrigged out in silk and diamonds. That outfit on Glory, now--" Hesighed enviously.
"Well, I've gone up agains
ah!" Jensen snorted contemptuously. "I can take care of myself. I know what I'm doin', I tell you."
"You may, but you don't act like it," was Wade's parting remark, as he turned his horse and rode off.
"Go to hell!" the Swede shouted after him.
Heading toward Crawling Water, the ranch owner rode rapidly over the sun-baked ground, too full of rage to take notice of anything except his own helplessness. The sting of Jensen's impudence lay in Wade's realization that to enlist the aid of the sheriff against the sheep man would be very difficult, if not altogether impossible. There was very little law in that region, and what little there was seemed, somehow, to have been taken under the direction of Race Moran.
It was now broad day and the prairie warmed to the blazing sun. Long, rolling stretches of grass, topped with rocks and alkaline sand, gave back a blinding glare like the reflection of a summer sea, from which arose a haze of gray dust like ocean mists over distant reaches. Far
u to the death."
He had no answer for this. It was true. He had been brought up in a land of Indian wars and he had accepted without question the common view that the Sioux, the Crows, and the Cheyennes, with all their blood brothers, were menaces to civilization. The case for the natives he had never studied. How great a part broken pledges and callous injustice had done to drive the tribes to the war-path he did not know. Few of the actual frontiersmen were aware of the wrongs of the red men.
The young man's hands fell from her arms. Hard-eyed and grim, he looked her over from head to foot. The short skirt and smock of buckskin, the moccasins of buffalo hide, all dusty and travel-stained, told of life in a primitive country under the simplest and hardest conditions.
Yet the voice was clear and vibrant, the words well enunciated. She bloomed like a desert rose, had some quality of vital life that struck a spark from his imagination.
What manner of girl was she? Not by any possibil
>On Kiley's Run
The roving breezes come and go
Frying Pan's Theology
Scene: On Monaro.
The Two Devines
It was shearing-time at the Myall Lake,
In the Droving Days
`Only a pound,' said the auctioneer,
Lost
`He ought to be home,' said the old man,
`without there's something amiss.
Over the Range
Little bush maiden, wondering-eyed,
Only a Jockey
Out in the grey cheerless chill of the morning light,
How M'Ginnis Went Missing
Let us cease our idle chatter,
A Voice from the Town
I thought, in the days of the droving,
A Bunch of Roses
Roses ruddy and roses white,
Black Swans
As I lie at rest on a patch of clover
The All Right 'Un
He came from `further out',
The Boss of the `Admiral Lynch'
Did you ever hear tell of Chili? I was readin' the other day
A Bushman's Song
I'm travellin' down the Castlereagh, and I'm a station hand,
How Gilbert Died
There's never a stone at the sleeper's head,
The Flying Gang
I served my time, in the days gone by,
Shearing at Castlereagh
The bell is set a-ringing, and the engine gives a toot,
The Wind's Message
There came a whisper down the Bland between the dawn and dark,
Johnson's Antidote
Down along the Snakebite River, where the overlanders camp,
Ambition and Art
I am the maid of the lustrous eyes
The Daylight is Dying
The daylight is dying
In Defence of the Bush
So you're back from up the country, Mister Townsman, where you went,
Last Week
Oh, the new-chum went to the back block run,
Those Names
The shearers sat in the firelight, hearty and hale and strong,
A Bush Christening
On the outer Barcoo where the churches are few,
How the Favourite Beat Us
`Aye,' said the boozer, `I tell you it's true, sir,
The Great Calamity
MacFierce'un came to Whiskeyhurst
Come-by-
reedom of its people.
[Illustration: My First Drunk]
Some of the slaves, like us, had kind and indulgent masters. These were lucky indeed, as their lot was somewhat improved over their less fortunate brothers, but even their lot was the same as that of the horse or cow of the present day. They were never allowed to get anything in the nature of education, as smart negroes were not in much demand at that time, and the reason was too apparent, education meant the death of the institution of slavery in this country, and so the slave owners took good care that their slaves got none of it.
Go and see the play of "Uncle Tom's Cabin," and you will see the black man's life as I saw it when a child. And Harriett Beecher Stowe, the black man's Saviour, well deserves the sacred shrine she holds, along with the great Lincoln, in the black man's heart.
CHAPTER II.
WAR. "THE REBELS AND YANKEES." I RAISE A REGIMENT TO FIGHT. DI
e. Well, put it down and open the door. There's some things I want to say to you."
"What about?" asked Hamlin, suspiciously. Overwhelming every other thought in his mind was the conviction that Davies and Harris had apprised Lawler of what had happened the night before, and that Lawler had come to capture him, single-handed.
"About Ruth."
The wild gleam in Hamlin's eyes began to dull. However, he was still suspicious.
"You seen any of your men this mornin'--Davies or Harris?" he asked.
"Davies and Harris went to town last night. I reckon they didn't get back yet. What's Davies and Harris got to do with me visiting you?"
"Nothin'." There was relief in Hamlin's voice. The muzzle of the rifle wavered; the weapon was withdrawn and the slide closed. Then the door slowly opened, and Hamlin appeared in it, a six-shooter in hand.
"If you're foolin' me, Kane Lawler, I'll sure bore you a-plenty!" he threatened.
"Shucks!" Lawler advanced to the door, ignoring the h
ave spoilt his physiognomy for life; and, depend upon it, as long as life lasts, he will neither forget nor forgive that. I shall also come in for a share of his spite, and it behoves both of us to beware of him."
"But what can he do to us?"
"Caballero, that question shows you have not been very long in this country, and are yet ignorant of its customs. In Mexico we have some callings not congenial to your people. Know that stilettoes can here be purchased cheaply, with the arms of assassins to use them. Do you understand me?"
"I do. But how do you counsel me to act?"
"As I intend acting myself--take departure from Chihuahua this very day. Our roads are the same as far as Albuquerque, where you will be out of reach of this little danger. I am returning thither from the city of Mexico, where I've had business with the Government. I have an escort; and if you choose to avail yourself of it you'll be welcome to its protection."
"Colonel Miranda, again I know not how to thank yo
ing to act over again the whole scene of the deer-hunt, but Fru, that is to say, Lady Astrida, was too busy to listen, and broke in with, "Have they brought home the haunch?"
"Yes, Walter is bringing it. I had a long arrow--"
A stout forester was at this instant seen bringing in the venison, and Dame Astrida hastened to meet it, and gave directions, little Richard following her all the way, and talking as eagerly as if she was attending to him, showing how he shot, how Osmond shot, how the deer bounded, and how it fell, and then counting the branches of its antlers, always ending with, "This is something to tell my father. Do you think he will come soon?"
In the meantime two men entered the hall, one about fifty, the other, one or two-and-twenty, both in hunting dresses of plain leather, crossed by broad embroidered belts, supporting a knife, and a bugle- horn. The elder was broad-shouldered, sun-burnt, ruddy, and rather stern-looking; the younger, who was also the taller, was slightly ma
to him that they had quite a sum of money with them, and that they would deposit it with the same merchant to whom he had carried the money before. The first night they camped the Mexican murdered them both, took the money, and crossed into Mexico. He hid their bodies, and it was months before they were missed, and a year before their bones were found. He had plenty of time to go to the ends of the earth before his crime would be discovered.
"Now that Mexican would never think of betraying the banker, his old friend and patron, his muy bueno amigo. There were obligations that he could not think of breaking with the banker; but these fool sheep men, supposing it was simple honesty, paid the penalty of their confidence with their lives. Now, when he rode over this same road alone, a few months before, with over five thousand dollars in money belonging to these same men, all he would need to have done was to ride across the river. When there were no obligations binding, he was willing to add mur