Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1888-12-16

/ SIlil uppefHsOSt ana holding -Seth 1rmly
down, allowed himself to slip with them,
! showing his adversary before him; the
maddened Missourian detecting his pIr-
! pose, made desperate attempt to change
! his position, and succeeded in raising his
knee against the masters chest. Ford
| guarding against what seemed to be only
a wrestler's strategy, contented himself
! by locking the bent knee firmly in that
| position, and thus unwittingly gave
! Seth the lOOked-fOr opportunity of
| drawing the bowie knife concealed in
his boot leg. He knew his mistake
only as Seth violently freed his arm,
and threw it upward for the blow. He
| heard the steel slither like Il scythe
through the hay, and unlocking his hold
desperately threw himself on the uplifted
arm. The movement saved him. For
the released body of Seth slipped rapidly
through the opening, upheld for Il single
instant OH the verge by the grasp of the
masters two hands on the arm that still
held the knife, and then dropped heavily
downward. Even then, the hay that had
slipped before him would have broken his
fail but his head came in violent contact
with some farming implements standing
against the wall, and without u cry he
was stretched senseless on the ground.
the whole occurrence passed so rapidly
and so noiselessly that not only did Ne
Kinstry 5 challenge fall upon his already
unconscious ears, but the lOOsened hay
which i'll the masters struggles to re-
cover himself still continued to slide
gently from the loft, actually hid him
from the eyes of the spectators who
sought him moment afterwards. A
mass of hay and wild oats, dislodged APP
parently by Mrs. McKinstry i'll securing
her defenses. was all that met their eyes;
even the woman herself was unconscious
of the deadly struggle that had taken
place above her.
The master staggered to an upright po-
sition, half chOked and half blinded with
dust, tIIrgid and bursting with the rush
of blood to his head but clear and COL
lected in mind, and unremorsefully tri-
umphant. Unconscious of the real eX-
tent of Seth 5 catastrophe, he CROPPED for
and seized his gun, examined the cap and
eagerly waited for Il renewed attack.
''He tried to kill me; he would have
killed me; if he comes again | must
kill him, - he kept repeating to
himself. 1t never occurred to him
that this was inconsistent with
his previous thought-indeed with the
whole tenor of his belief Perhaps the
put in peril of his life by an adversary,
who has recognized death threatening
him i'll the eye of his antagonist, is by
some strange paradox not likely to hold
his own life or the life of his adversary as
dearly as before. Everything was silent
now The suspense irritated him, he no
longer dreaded but even longed for the
shot that would precipitate hOStilites
What were they doing? Guided by Seth,
were they concerning fresh attack?
Listening more -iutently he became
aware of distant shouting, and even
more distinctly, of the duh, heavy
tramping of hoofs. a sudden angry fear,
that the McKinstrys had been beaten Off
and were flying-a fear and anger that
now for the first time identified him with
their cause-came over him, and he
scrambled quickly towards the opening
below. But the sound was approaching,
and with it came a voice.
''Hold on there, sheriff.
1t was the voice of the agent, Stacey.
There was a pause of reluctant muir
mering. But the warning was enforced
by a command from another voice
weak, unheroic, but familiar, 81 order
this yer to StOp-right yer,
A burst of ironical laughter followed.
The voice was Uncle Bens
''Stand back! This is 10 time for
foolin' g, - said the sheriff roughly.
He's right, Sheriff Briggs said
Stacey's voice hurriedly, "yOu re acting
for him; he's the owner of the land -
"What? That Ben Dabney:'
eyes; he's Daubigny, who bought the
title from u.s. ~.
q 5 Tas$s vas @atm msmsn'ary n'''' then
Zen $ voice persuasiyely, :. Eat this yer
Fsung man, though far-n<pded and
wdNintended, has been little too chip |
per and, previous IL ordering out ae law. |
This yj1' ain 'tuo law matter with. me,
boys 1t ain.'t TO be Settled by law pa
pers, nor shot guns and deringers. rs |
suthinH TO be chawed over sociable like,
between drinks. IF any harm hez bin
done, eff anythin 5 happened, | m yer to !
demnIfy the sheriff, and make it COM !
Fable all round. Yer know me, boys.
l IN talkin'. It's me-DabEey, or Dau- |
bigny, which ever way you like it,
But in the silence that followed the /
passions had not yet evidently cooled. 1t |
was broken by the sarcastic drawl of Dick |
McKmstry: elf them Harrisons don t |
mind heven had their medderS trampled |
over by lew winnie men, why
:'The sheriff ez Identified for that -
interrupted Uncle Ben, hastily,
- N eff Dick McKinstry don I mind,
the damage to his pants in crawlin out
o. gunshot in the tall grass" retorted
Joe Harrison.
"I'm yer to settle that, boys,' said
Uncle Ben, cheerfully.
But who II settle this?'' clamOred
the voice of the older Harrison from be-
hind the barn where he had stumbled in
crossing the fallen hay, ''Yer'S Seth
Davis lyin' i'll the hay with the top of his
head busted. Who's TO pay for that?"
There was a rush to the spot and a
quick cry of reaction.
"whose work is this?" demanded the
sheriff : voice, with official severity
The master uttered an instructive ex-
clamation of defiance, and dropping
quickly to the barn floor, would the next
moment have opened the door and de-
clared himself, but Mrs McKinstry,
after a single glance at his determined
face, suddenly threw herself before him
with an iinperions gesture of silence.
Then her VOICE raug clearly from the
barn:
''Well, if its the hound that tried to
l..