Mexico weekly ledger., 1880-01-29

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he turned and noticed me. / saw the
Quick, wicked flash of anger in his
eyes. After a ~momentary survey he
broke silence, and this terse dialogue
followed:
eyer from the city, amt yer ?"
81 an"
eyer don't know me, do yer?'
81 DON'T"
"Take a drink an git acquainted
then"
"Don't drink"
"Smoke then"
tsDon't smoke"
ssDo yer shoot?'
ssNot worth q continental
My years Of assurance, acquired ~
q correspondent, and my knowledge
of aggressive characters, did not pre-
vent me from feeling some uneasiness
- I observed my interrogator's dex-
trous fingers slide to his belt and
grasp the hilt Of bis "whisler." An
unpleasant termination of the CONVEX
sation was avoided by the strange ap-
pearauce of a woman who stepped
from the overland train, just then ar
rived, and directed her steps toward
the saloon. She was rather a somely
looking female of thirty-eight or more
years, and evidently ill and suffering
from the effects of extended debauch.
Joe stared at her as one looks at the
arisen dead for a moment, and then
walked quietly to the door, threw
himself into the saddle ane rode
away. AS he passed the woman she
lifted her hands impioringly toward
him and fell to the earth unconscious.
She was borne to the hotel, and the
kind women Of the village did what
they could for her. She spoke nc
word when recovered from her swoen,
but lay quietly, unmindful of her life
fast ebbing away.
During the day I inquired Of
Broken-nose Charley, who knew
everybody and everything about the
village, regarding the man Joe.
Charley SAID that little was known Of
him, except that he mined some, gam.
bled some, drank like mad, and alto
gether was a bad lot. He had killed
two or three men, and been shot and
cut himself several times. He inva-
riably preceded an invitation to i'm
bibe, or the shooting of a man, by
the expression: ats fourteen inches
between my eyes, and l smell like a
wolf" From this idiosyncracy, and
his blood thirsty disposition, he was
known and dreaded as ''Thc Wolf
Prudent people addressed him as Joe.
ssThe Wolf" returned to town the
next day, and on entering the saloon,
from which he had mpdc a hurried
-a..ra-a-saSz -~sxea: :,
HAS that ar woman gomez!
He was told that she was sick and
could live but a short time. A great
change came over his face the hard
burrows of dissipation and crime were
transformed to the pitiable lines of
sorrow. Not noticing the dram prof
fered by the barkeeper, he hastened
to the hotel, and made his way to the
bedside Of the dying woman. Alb
ruptly he questioned:
s'Was yer following him?'
"No, Joe; l was hunting him.
ssSure?"
$50 help me God"
The poor white face, scared and
deep-seamed by excess and sin, grew
radiant with gladness as Joe knclt
down and kisaed her. With q seal
of forgiveness, with the pressure OF
his lips but half returned, she sank
back dead.
Through the service of the simple
burial the next day, Joe stood with
uncovered head, but his broad and
immovable features betrayed no emo
ton, nor ~vouchsafed any clew to the
mystery which enshrouded the cot:
fined cutcast and himself.
The evening Of the funeral "The
Wolf" called on me At my rooms.
Seating himself without preface, he
said:
Gas a man Of sense an no coward,
yer kin look at = brave mans agon,
in the right way. The past I've hid
den fur twenty yenrs, fur I amt til,
mar to carry my heart on my sleeve
fur DAVIS to peck at. But tlIar's 8
feeling as though I'd choke if l didn'
talk TO some one. The woman buried
to-day war my wife. We var married
in the states when she WAL sixteen an
/ just come of age. A bit after it
got the gold fever an went to Cali
forny. In couple of years I made
xuite a pile, an went home fur her
She wur changed, an it warn't Ions
before I heard the stories, and fount
the truth, that she had gone wrong
He war a fne-haired chap, who ha,
come into town while l wal away.
war q likely young Teller then, blu
the blow turned me into a devil.
went fur him, bu: he heard OF it, an
slid out fur Californy. l follered, an
fur twenty years I've been hunting
him all over this coast. A voice Q
hell has urged me OH, an I've kille'
men that the taste Of blood nigh
keep fierce my hope of revenge. Nv
never found him. During these year
ave heard about her once in a while
an how she were drinking an goin
to the dogs. I'd allus meant to Sc
her when I'd settle with him. Hi
name war. Bill Armstrong" .
He handed me some letters whic
had been found ON the dead wema'
They were mostly answers to inquire
regarding the whereabouts Of h'
husband. An unfinished letter OF hs
own to some friend in the east, an
dated a few days previous TO h
death, showed that to this poor, lo'
creature, with the grasp of death upe
her, there had come back to her ii
glory of her first and only pure low
and the unconquerable desire to d
Mt his feet, free from the burden
his curse. Strangely enough, anotll
letter gave information Of Bill Arr
strong, and stated that he was livir
near Boise City, in Idaho. The
two 1 read to the desperate man wi
sat before me, his burning ey'
cleaning with pain and his lips mu