The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-03-22

aiel'
His voice rose to cry. With q spring
like awildcat's he caught the larger man BY
the throat, drawing his knife with the other
hand. The slight shanty shook with the
struggle. Heavily built % was the En-
glishman, in his half inebriated condition
he was no match for the active young
Italian. He had had no time to reach for
his revolver. OF no avail was massive
strength against the feline tenacity Of his
antagonist.
There was mad rocking to and fro, .
gush Of blood, relaxed grasp and heavy
fall. How still it was save for the ticking
clock! But moment had passed. The
garish sunlight streamed in the window.
bier, and the ink was yet undried on the
pen. -.
Where was the man who had sat there
and sung, the spirit that had dictated to
the willing hands the written words2 Not
here. not the heavy lump of flesh which
lay PROSTATE, impotent.
Sirani mounted and rode madly through
the undulating monotony.
This country was enchanted to him. The
glow of sunlight on the brown rocks was .
Iurid light, q blood-red mist. On the sum-
mits of hills, masses of stone, were grim
castles from which, when an owl hooted,
he heard the cry of lost soul.
He was persuaded that it was but justice
which he had executed. It was the hellish
country. he thought, which weighed upon
him like pail. The yearning for human
face to break the awful loneliness seized
upon him. Let him but once get with peo-
pie and this weight would pass away.
Suddenly he uttered cry and stopped
in the gathering dusk the same cabin
which he thought lay behind him at
Gopher Gulch. There was the same cor
raj; the same red wagon was before the
door.
II struck him with horror that he was in
hell. His punishment was to consist in
an eternal circuit, ever trying to escape,
ever to return against his will to this
shanty and its CHASTITY occupant.
He saw with glow of relief that 1t was
not the same cabin.
Three or four horses were hitched to the
fence. A bright light shone from the VIM
dow and open door, and he heard the
heavenly sound Of laughter and voices.
He rode to the window and looked in.
Four men were sitting at a table on which
was lamp. A woman was standing near
the stove, whence arose the savory odor Of
fried meat. They were laughing heartily
at something the woman was saying.
Sirani felt that he loved these people,
Never before had the intercourse of his
own kind appeared SO sweet. He was
about to dismount and enter when one Of
the men, hearing the dogs bark, came out
to find the cause
Higginson had just time to see the dark
face under the broad-brimmed hat, the red
sash around what he thought the dandy
grcaser's waist and his own mare Betty
with the white star on her forehead.
He put his hand to his belt and sprung
forward to seize the bride. shouting:
ave got yer now, hevI? You ID
horse thiefp'
Sirani felt the hostile movement There
was no time for thought, but it came to
him with flash of consciousness that he
had committed an offense against the laws
ofman, and that now the hounds were upon
his path. He dug his spurs into tie mares
TANKS. She started, knocking Higginson
| over, and tore off.
| Sirani had but moments advantage.
Quickly the four men were mounted and
after him. He had wild sense of speed,
| of being q hunted thing.
| Upward they rushed towards the mount
aims, looming before them darkly in the
| twilight. Plains passed like swift dream.
| Hills rose and sank, abillowy sea, behind
him. With ever increasing speed gaining
upon him came the beat Of horses hoofs
! He heard shouts and voices and bullet
| whizzed past him.
! The mare was tagging, wearied with her
mornings work, but the bullet made her
| frantic with excitement. With spasmodic
/ energy she rushed forward.
| Another whixz! The mare lurched and
heaved under him. Before her, where the
/ rocky walls of a canyon, the entrance to
| which seemed impassable for stones. He
| urged the mare forward and she sprang
| into the shadows of the rayine.
Two large owls sitting on its banks rose,
dark, Tapping shapes, with hoarse cries.
It seemed the entrance to hell, of which
On the mare stumbled in the cool dark
ness. Behind him he heard the stamping
| of hoofs and the voices of his pursuers as
| they passed onward.
Walls seemed to reach indefinitely above,
like the narrow sides of a grave. How
alive it was! Dim, misshapen shapes like
| about in the shadows. Suddenly the light
| grew brighter and the sky seemed to open
overhead. The mare stumbled and paused
| She had passed out of the canyon to q
| narrow ledge. A steep cliff lay at her feet.
Week with the loss of blood from her
wound, she staggered and sank, wounded
unto death. Sirani was thrown forward
striking upon sharp stone. tearing the
smooth, olive cheek where Elinor's lips
had rested. Below, the foothills and plains
| stretched out like map in the twilight
| The horned moon hung low in the deep
| ening sky. Above, the mountains rose.
awful, shrouded in the gloom of the gath
| ering night.
| Sirani lay facing the dim tract of hills.
Half stunned. his mind was in the past.
| Scenes of his past life flashed across him
with startling vividness. Through all his
brothers face and voice required to him
with an inexpressable longing. WHY
was Luigi not here to smooth his hair in
/ the old way, almost like a woman's: to
hold his hand?
Sirani stretched out his hand, to meet
no warm human clasp; only the prickly
burs of the cactus. Through all his limbs
there was great weakness and WEAKNESS.
The valley below, lit by moonlight: the
stiffness and loneliness were not what
they had been to him. These and the sky
seemed wearing away, becoming thin
They were like a veil, through which he
saw something beyond; a law and unity
which welded all things together; an awful
presence.
Luigi" he cried, lis this death?n
Shadowy and dark in the moonlight his
dim consciousness became aware of shapes
moving around him. One. gigantic
form. stood over him and with arms that
were not shadowy pinioned him fast
.'Get up from here We want you,n
The moon was shining down on the
plateau. There were four men on horse
back. Two had dismounted. A white
bearded man whom he had seen before
was STOPPING over the dead horse.
This is my mare, Betty" called Hig-
gibson. Heath, tie your lariat around
the rascal's neck. There's cotton tree at
the ranch high enough to swing him to.
Wen just settle up our little account, Mr..
Parades."
sirani, stunned, bewildered, oppressed
f>xrrh .,x - - l. '