Helena weekly herald., 1889-04-04

city.
"Self defense, you know. Ed Hexter, that
keeps the station was the man. Coed fellow
Ed is. He never would have no quarrel
with this man he killed, though he was fore
ever tryin' to kick up row, bein' dead gone
on Eds girl. Fine girl, too, she is; not many
| like her in these parts. Old Mcleod, me
| girls grandfather, he favored Ed, as most
anybody would as had any sense. The old
man was the first settler hereabouts. Twas
HIM that named that rock by the station Dun
cans Head-minded him Of something in
| Scotland, where he came from prob'ly. He
| didn't have any kindly feelin' for this Cali
| tornia fellew. Allen, his name was, and he
| told him so fiat one day when he was comm
| from the mill, and he come acrost him
| right on the brink by the bank; you'll see the
| place, where the creek goes through the cut;
| powerful deep, too, it is. He gave the old
| man some sass and he answered him kinder
| contemptuous, and the coward up and hit
| him. McLeod's upward to SO years old
Ed he happened along just then, and he
| called out and told him if he wanted to fight
| to take some one that was match for him,
| and if he hit the old man again he'd throw
him over the cliff. At that the Californy fel
low drawed a knife and made lunge at HIM,
and gave him an ugly cut; but Ed he just give
him one with his fist and he staggered back
and fell right off into the creek bottom. XII
led him dead. They fshed around some for
him, but they didn't find his body. Guess no.
body cared much; he didn't have friend
nowhere Nobody ever mentioned such
thing as having Ed took up for it."
"And, | suppose, he married and lived
happy ever afterward, as al the stories wind
up, on paper ?" said Marcoe, who by this time
evinced lazy interest.
"No. That's where the funny part comes
in. The girl she got some sort of cranky no.
tion in her head that she wouldn't marry a
man as had killed anybody; and though the
old man has done his best to change her mind,
and Ed has, too, she says she'll never marry
anybody; and | low she won't neither.
She's one O. the kind that holds on to an
idea like grim death and don't change her
mind for nobody. An these amt the only
queer doin's there. Some folks low there's
arendyvoo for thieves thereabouts, and others
are certain there's somethin' supernatural
about it. It's fact, though, that there s been
considerable petty Stealin goin' on there the
past two or three years, mostly provisions and
such, but nobody's ever been ketched. A
man has been seen prowlin' around on dark
nights, and some claim to have seen ghostly
somethin' about the big rock, but | amt got
much faith IN spooks. | had a strange thing
happen to me though, when | was livin' at
Salt Lake. | was rIdin' along late one night,
when all to onct-"
AT this moment small boy appeared and
announced that ''the black hosS was shod,"
and Marcoe was soon galloping over the
future site of Empire City, while the tall chin
ney of the Metropolitan house speedily disap-
peared from view.
The western sky was clear and the sun
shown brightly, but the dark line above the
hills and the gray shadows on the snow fields
of the mountain portended a rain. The roads
were smooth and hard and gave back pleas
ant sound beneath the swift feet of the black,
and the subtle intoxication Of the fresh, pure
air soon cleared the brain of his rider of its
impatience, and both felt a keen thrill of
pleasure in the mere fact of being alive.
The dying foliage of the willow massed it
self in banks of glowing yellow against the
sombre green of the frs, and millions of creep.
ing green things, reused from their summer
lethargy by the autumn rains, pushed their
way defiantly through the carpet of pine and
tamarack needles which strove to cover them.
landscape, that the traveller enjoyed every
step of his ride, and rode into the little sta
ton at dusk in the best possible humor with
himself and the world in general
He had forgotten all about the story told by
the future founder of the Empire City, until he
noticed the uncanny crag, which looked re-
markably life-like in the gathering gloom,
and as he greeted the tall, broad shouldered
foIl oG .la
stable, it suddenly occurred to him that he
must be speaking to the hero of the Duncan
Head tragedy.
'People rarely stop here over night" was
the reply to his request for lodgings the stage
only changes horses here for the long hill,
and passengers don't often stop. If you can
put up with what Accommodations l can offer
you, you're welcome to stop with me, Pm
sure"
Marcoe felt an instructive liking, at first
sight, for this pleasant faced mountaineer who
had such a dark page in his history, and the
feeling deepened as he talked to him, ate at
his hospi.able bachelor board and spread his
blankets for the night before his glowing fire.
place A dozen times it was on his tongues
end 20 ask him some leading question, but
the fear of being impertinent restrained him,
and as he met the earnest, kindly gaze, as
oIen as that of child, there seemed cruel
irony in fate that would compel such man
to 90 through life under the ban of murder
er Musipg thus he dropped to sleep. 1t
must have been about 10 o'clock when two
pistol shots, fired in rapid succession, reused
him. Almost before he realized where he
was, he was dressed and started for the door,
but Hexter was there before him. AS it
opened he saw that it was storming, for a
gust Of wind carried the cold rain across the
cabin and scattered the embers upon the
hearth. Silently, but with foreboding sense
of some calamity, they ran across the road to
the cabin opposite, whence the sound had
seemed to come. Entering without ceremony
the scene before them seemed to Marcoe so
horrible that it must be a creation of his half
reused brain and he would awake to find it a
hideous dream. Upon the floor lay gray
haired man with the blood streaming from
ghastly wound in his side, while white faced
girl bent over him, trying in vain to stanch
the flow.
"My boy" came tremblingly from the
diving lips, as Hexter knelt down and lifted
his head tenderly, and look of agony swept
over his face as he saw how surely the deadly
bullet had done its work.
80 Jennie how did did it happen? Who
did il p he cried.
81 don't know, Ed; l didn't see any one
We hadn't gone to bed yet, and was sit
ting by the table reading. Grandfather got
up to walk across the floor and heard the
shots and the room was full of smoke, but
couldn't see any one or hear anything else"
Every pane of the little window was intact,