Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1892-11-25


on his shirt front was an artificial flower,
pink in color, of species unknown, and fly
specked to considerable degree But he
was, oh, SO proud of il! Every now and
then he would stroke it and readjust it
carefully, and his satisfied air clearly
proved that he felt himself the bes. dressed
man in the room. His partner was a tall,
thin girl, with red hair worn in a Psyche
knot, red dress and white sash
Presently, between dances, in came a
couple of the Miles boys. with beer and
lemonade.
'sHold on, you handsp' shouted Nose
Miles to the musicians; ''wait till water
these yere heifersp' And he proceeded to
let the s'heifers" refresh themselves &C.
cording to preference. informing the men,
EFF you all wants waterin, go tew it; it's
thar, an l sho' amt goin t. hustle fer you
cow hans"
Pretty soon noticed that Rice was
paying considerable attention to one of the
ella girls, pretty little thing, whose
father raised garden truck a few miles-up
the river He danced half dozen times
in succession with her and did not leave
her an instant. This is never the proper
thing and is not good policy where girls
are scarce, and knew it might make trou-
BILE, especially as the girl was understood
to be as good as engaged to Harve Bragg,
who was one of the worst" men in the
county when feeling disagreeable. And
he seemed to be feeling disagreeable this
evening.
Every few minutes he would return
from the room where the beer and whisky
were on tap and look scowlingly on at the
scene in the big living room; and knew
enough of him to believe that he was likely
to cause trouble presently. went over
and whispered warning to Rice, but he
only shook his head and laughed. "Pshaw!
he won't do anything-not tonight any
how. All right: I'm only going to dance
with her this once more" be whispered
and left him, half satisfied, but still
somewhat apprehensive of trouble
1t came. The next dance was z quadrille,
and Rice and his partner were just taking
their places in the first set when Harve
Bragg. his face like a thunder cloud, strobe
out on the floor and touched the assayer
on the arm. As Rice turned ! saw by his
eyes that he, too, was affected by the liquor
he had drunk, and had doubtless been i'm
PEELED by its influence to act as he had
See yere, Mister Man!'' Kissed Bragg
threateningly; this yere foolins ben goin
on long 'nough Let loose O. that heifer
an give a white man a show!"
Rice's eyes blaZed. He stepped back
couple of PAGES, out of hearing of the WON
en-, and answered with quiet earnestness:
go to hi, sir I'd have you under
stand that no white eyed COW puncher can
bullyrag me. Pm going to finish this
dance-and more, if choose. But if you
have anything to say about it, I'll accom-.
modate you after this quadrille in any way
you like"
Bragg's eyes sparkled. "Guns?" he
asked eagerly.
Eyes; anything. Go out and wait in the
road, by that white rock I'll be out there
when finish here. When reach the cut
off down there, begin shooting"
'All right" And Bragg, who was con
sidered the best shot in the county, went
quietly away satisfied. The music struck
up, and the dance began as though nothing
had happened Indeed while every one
knew that there had been trouble there
was only one person besides the principals
who had heard the conversation, and who
knew that the trouble was not yet over
and presently he slipped from the room.
Harve Bragg, pacing impatiently up and
down the road, waiting, with six shooter
in hand, heard some one coming from back
toward the house. He turned at the white
rock and halted his fingers clutching nerv
ously at the stock of his revolver. He
could see a figure advancing in the gloom.
Nearer, nearer to where the cut off left the
main road.
Now!
Two shots rang out almost simultane
ously. Harve Bragg felt a sharp pain i'll
his left shoulder, but kept pulling tie
trigger. Two more shots from each, and
Bragg fell to the earth, shot through the
lungs. but with sufficient strength left to
fire his three remaining shots.
Down in the road we found them both
Bragg just dying, and Milly-poor little
Milly-with three wounds, shot through
and through and gasping for breath. Rice
and picked him up and carried him in,
and the others cared for Bragg. We laid
Milly down on the bed in the Misses Miles
room. He motioned me to go out and close
the door, and went, leaving Rice alone
with him.
Ten minutes later Arthur Rice, with a
drawn, deathly look on his handsome face,
came into the hall where l was talking to
one of the Miles girls.
go to her," he said strangely; sit is my
wife, and she is dead"
He took my arm and drew me from the
house and down to where we had left the
horses. The clouds were gone and the
moonlight made his livid face look fairly
CHASTITY. We halted and faced each other
81 lied," he said; 81 lied; she was not my
wife, except maybe in the eyes of God
deceived her-betrayed her. and fled like
coward. have been sorry, but heard she
was dead and thought | could make no
amends. Bury her, old man, and say on
the stone, SO everybody can see it, Alice.
beloved wife of Rice MacArthur'-that's
my name. | can't bear to stay. Goodby-
goodby, dear old boy-God bless your
He thrust some bills into my hand, whis-
pering, For her." leaped on his horse and
was gone-into the hills. never saw him
again He went to Central America and
was murdered by plundering natives ayear
later.
We buried Alice as he had asked. Won
der if the little woman knew how many
sincere mourners she had? And Rice-we
miss him, too, but maybe both are happier
Eow.-R. L. Ketchum in Argonaut.