The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1888-07-28
SNATCHED FROM DEATH.
L Killed Him Because He Was MY
Brother, and I Had Taken An
Oath to Kill Him.

Twelve men sat upright in their sad.
dies Eleven Of them formed = circle;
the twelfth man was on the outside OF it.
Within the circle, lying On the ground,
almost under his horses feet, was another
man, dead The blood was oozing out OF
8 small hole in his forehead. running IN
tiny purple streams over each temple,
and lost in the long black hair tElat
reached almost down to his shoulders. :.
The eleven men forming the circle had
their eyes upon the dead man; the eyes OF
the twelfth we're closely watching the
eleven. while half smile played around
the corners Of his mouth, giving to his
face q rather dare devil appearance.
There was perfect silence. Even the
horses were standing as If deeply absorbed
in thought, forgetting for the time to
swish their tails to keep eway imaginary
flies.
But presently tho silence was broken.
A terrible oath was uttered by one ct the
eleven, and it was answered by his ten
comrades in tho circle with angry words
and shouts and curses. They jerked
their horses heads around and faced the
one with the smile upon his lips. Each
man had his hand On his revolver, but the
half smile on the face Of him they seemed
ready to destroy, instead Of vanishing,
grew broader and broader and more reck'
less, and taunting light shone In his
eyes as he said, interroEgat'vely; weir
The orc Who had FIRST broken tie
silence replied by asking: Why did you
kill our con1rAde?'
Because could, suppose
tsYcu killed him, then. because you
wanted to kill so11la one?'
emo. | killed hirn because he was my
brother, and had taken a1l oath to kill
him"
"Your brother!' all exclaimed.
eyes. am Bud Did he never raen-
ton me to his friends? Ha ha hal But
Dick was always reticent. 1t was his
way. Well, gentlemen, I'll bid you good
day, and move along"
He lifted his hat and bowed to them,
then he turned his horse around aud gal
loped away across the prairie
The GOODNESS Of the man YVES such a s;1r-
prise to the party he left that it YVES sew
eral minutes before they fully realized that
tho murderer Of their companion had
made his escape. When they came to
their senses, however, it was with ono &C.
cord that each man turned his horse and
with ore voice they all shouted, death
to the nlurdererl'
All were splendidly mounted, and ali
were good horsemen, men who spent inc
greater part of their time ir the saddle.
The chase was 9, hot one, for the 1nur
derer also was we'll mounted and he easily
kept the distance he had gained at Slie
STAR, between himself and bis purs!ers.
And it was evident from his actions that
he did not let his horse out to its full
speed, for he frequently reached his hand
over the porameL Of the saddle and patted
the animal on the neck to soothe it into
obedience Of his wishes.
In the distance was a line of timber.
The trees became taller and taller as the
riders went Oh. until at last they rushed
into this dim light under them. End, as
he called himself, was scant milo ahead
Of his pzrsuers, but when he sJwock the
woods he gave his horse free rein, and il
was surprising to see how the ani,1al
bounded away. almost with the sw-ift12ess
Of the wind.
"Tda5's the style, Satan!" cried the
rider In eSnltant tones to his horse, I'VE
will pass the river before they reach it, ~
On and on they sped through What
seemed an almost impossible tangle of
palmetto and vines
The river was reached at last. Tie
water was over the banks and running
swiftly.
About half E. mile below where Bud had
struck the river was what is called a
craft" place where logs and trees had
lodged as they were carried down the
river by freshets. They were fastened
together in ell sorts Of ways-some stand
ing on end with their broken tops above
water, others with their roots in the air,
and against these WAS lodged drift Of
every description. Over and around this
drift and the upeniied trees the water
rushed in thousand whirls and eddies,.
with a roar as Of e. cataract.
Bud cast his eyes up and down the
river He had crossed ii often, and knew
the danger:
'sThe river is o, a boom" he n1uttered;
then turning to his horse he spoke cheer.
fly, 'But we can cross it. can't we,
Satan7"
The animal uttered short neigh, as if
In response. and paved the ground rest
lessly.
Bud fastened his pistols high Oh the
po1nnlel Of the saddle, then pulled his
boots off a,ld fastened them III the Same
manner. When all was ready ho took
hold Of Tie horses tell and said: 'sNow.
Satan, over we GO
The horse walked into the water with
Bud following holding on to his tail
Man and beast were soon out of their
depth, when the horse turned bis head
slightly against the stream and swa1n
swiftly for the other bank.
The shore was reached in safety. The
bank was low and clear of timber, ex-
cept for q tree standing here and there,
and i'll the distance, as far as the eye
could see. stretched tie wide prairie
Bud was just ready to mount his horse,
when lie happened to cast his eyes up the
ziver. They opened wide, and his aaten-
ton was so closely drawn to what he saw
that he did not notice his pursuers had
reached the other bank, until bullet
from Winchester rife came whistling
by, close to his head,
He looked around quickly The sight
that nat his eyes would have caused most
men to seek cover FOR half dozen rifles
were pointed toward him But Bud did
not move except TO raise his hand ans
motion it up the river.
The weapons were lowered and ell eyes
glanced up the river. 4 small slsif, with
what looked like little toddling girl