The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1892-02-19
A HALF TOLD TALE.

healthy. This chunk of wisdom is not out
of the doctors books. 1t is not likely,
therefore, to be accepted as authoritative.
Still know of case that proves its truth.
Monty Clark hated Jed Saddlehorn with
the kind of hate that spoils the hater's di-
gestion. 1t always boiled within him like
water in geyser. The overflow was in
frequent, which was as bad for him as for
the man he hated For it scalded Monty
| internal organs and was likely to prove
the death of Jed when it should finally
burst forth in the always threatened grand
| eruption. 1t was a spiteful, mean, low
down sort of enmity.
In short, it was the hatred of coward
Now, Jed detested Monty. He loathed
him, in fact. He would not speak to him
if he could well avoid it. But his hatred
was of the healthy sort, and he thrived on
it. He did not go about calling his enemy
| hair curling names behind his back. He
simply swore a little into the air and held
| his peace He knew that Monty had vowed
| to kill him, and he was always prepared to
meet him half way when he should make
! the attempt. Both were cowboys, and both
rough and tough.
| The trout bic arose over cattle Jed had
clapped his brand upon five steers that
| Monty was intending to steal himself.
| Neither man had shadow of right to the
beasts, for they strayed away from a neigh
| boring ranch. When the owner came after
them Monty was as quick to tell him what
| had been done with them as he would have
been to keep the matter shady had the
brand on the steers been his own. From
that time on there was war between the
| two cowboys, but it was quiet battle and
attracted little attention from the other
men with whom they worked.
Monty planned all sorts of means for
staying his enemy-that is, all except those
in which be might be given a chance for
his life. Once he pointed his pistol at his
back when they were alone on the desert,
but he lacked the pluck to press the trig
ger. Another time he had good oppor-
tunity for sticking knife between his ribs
while he lay asleep, but he faltered. He
was not squeamish as to the deed, but he
feared the consequences. Jed's friends
handled their riatas with dexterity, and It
might be his fate to dangle at the end of
one of them if he did not do his staying
very neatly and shadily.
1t was after the rOdeo. The cowboys
were at the lone groggery on the desert
enjoying such innocent pleasures as gulp-
ing down raw whisky, shooting at the
lamps and mirrors and making the pro
prietor of the place dance on his own bar
Jed was little more under the influence"
than any of the others, and when Monty
came in as sober as a draft horse, it pleased
the convivial Saddlehorn to make him give
the assembly lively jig on the top of a
nd fob fr-io
eyes when he had finished the iig-per-
formed, as it was, at the point of Jed's six
shooter-and he took anew the oath to kill
him He would like to see him burned
alive or tortured by Indians. There was
no death too good for the man, so he
thought.
He went down in the dry arroyo near
the big corral to think over some scheme
of vengeance, swift, terrible and sure. He
saw three Indians up the arroyo, and,
thinking they might help him in his plan
of murder he went up to them. They
were lying on the gray earth mumbling
among themselves. He talked with them
awhile and soon made up his mind that
they were of too peaceable a nature to at
tempt any such job as he had on hand. He
was about to turn away when his eye
pulsive that it made him gasp and vince
Securely pinioned in leather thongs was
one of those horrible reptiles of the desert,
sometimes called the ella monster He
had seen these animals before, but had
never seen one half the size of this, which
the Indians had captured with view to
selling to a scientifically inclined white
man who lived over at the next station,
and to whom they had already sold several
ugly creatures, though none approaching
this for ugliness.
The reptile was about four feet long and
was marked differently from the others Of
the same family that Monty had tickled
with his blacksnake while scouting the
wilds on horseback. This animal did not
look as if he would stand much tickling. !
Although Monty did not know it, he saw
before him true specimen of the heio-
Germa hOrridum. creature that has the
most violent dislike for man and whose
bite is deadly. no antidote yet known being
powerful enough to overcome the poison
when once in the human system. By the
Indians he is called the terazula He diff
fers from the common heloderma suspec-
TEN in the markings of his body, his size
and also in the fact that there is no doubt
as to the deadliness of his poison. His full,
long form is covered by a shining and
f1inty arnor of jet black and copper green
He has none of the orange patches which
distinguish the suspectem.
The head of the terazula was seen to be
quite long, and the eyes, narrow and some
what bullying were like two jets of blue
flame. The four legs were of the length of
mans forearm, and the claws. with their
spiky projections, were Of finger length
\ stumpy tail, the only part OF the body
now free TO move, was lashing the ground.
As soon as the revengeful mans eyes fell
upon the terazula be began to form a plan
In which this horrible creature took part.
Ii he could turn this venomoUs reptile
loose upon Jed his life would not be worth
a bunch of cactus. He told the Indians 10
remain, that he would buy the terazula
and pay bsster price than they could get
from the collector. They should keep the
creature there until the morrow. and he
would then tell them what disposition to
make OF 1t. For hours during the night he |
planned for the destruction Of his enemy
through the agency of the dread reptile
When morning came he stole out TO the
arroyo and told the Indians to bring along
their captive, that he had decided where
his home should be for the present He I
led the way up the dry wash to mass of
rocks. lined with prickly pears There was
a small cavern there entered only BY a
narrow opening, through which q man
could jlst squeeze his body. Into this cav
ern he directed the red men TO haul the
venomczIs terazUia When they had de
posted the creature on the ground inside /.
be directed taeIF attention 20 a smaller