The Carbon advocate. [volume] (Lehighton, Pa.) 1872-1924, 1892-09-03
TUE srRANGER's GALL.

Ol us au ltOmeSlch lIlkRlngSs ana IL W. S
the hour of noon on summers day
when big Jim Davis came over the hill
with his pack on his back and staked
out claim. lie came alone, and that
was why we noticed him so particular
ly. lie seemed TO fight shy of us for
three or four days, AND that is why we
wondered if he was all right, Big Jim
had got a squiut at the face Of every
man IN camp before he thawed out and
became social. In a little time we
found him to be good fellow, and so
we gradually came to forget our first
suspicious, We we're still agreed, how
ever, that there was something queer
about him. He appeared anxious and
perturbed whenever "A new arrival was
announced, aud if a party of half "a
dozen came along, Jim would go into
hiding until he had sized them up. 1t
was as if he suspected some one was
trailing him down,
There we're all sorts of men in the
mining camps in those days, and it was
the rule to mind your own business,
As long as a miner ebeyed the rules and
regulations laid down for the govern
ment of camp he was looked upon as
all right. What he had been in the
past was nothing even to his terminate.
There was big shanty in the center
of our village which was occupied as a
store, saloon, bank und general rendez-
vous after working hours. l was in
there one afternoon Just before the
miners knocked off work, when u
stranger quietly entered, He had come
by the trail aud alone, but no one had
noticed him. lie was slim, light
weight man, and though clothed in
rough garb you could see at once that
he was not a miner. He Vas sunburned
and unkempt,, but that was to be eX-
pected out there. He was talking with
the storekeeper as. ! entered-asking
after just such man as Big Jim Davis
His face struck me pleasantly enough
but there was a something in his gray
eyes to remind you of wounded
breast, and a something in his voice to
satisfy you that would be a pitiless
enemy.
He went out before did Who're he
kept himself for the next hour never
/ learned. The boys had knocked off
washed up and eaten supper, and about
twenty ofus had longed into the store
for a smoke and talk, when the littls
man suddenly showed up. This, minC
Iyou, was three months after Big Jim,
coming. Jim sat on a box facing thu
door, which was open. happened tC
be looking at him, and | suddenly saw
his face grow pale and his jaw drop
l looked over to the door and ther,
stood the stranger. lie had leerin,
sort of smile on his face, and was look
ing only at Big Jim. In ten seconds al
conservation had ceased. We instinct
lively felt that the two we're enemies
aud that the little man had dnall,
trailed Big Jim down.
It was fully two minutes before tn
stranger moved or spoke. Then h
stepped forward until close to Big jim
and said
ut has been over two years, but ly
run yop down at last"
Davis looked at him as one who see
a specter, but made no reply.
'You have skulked and lodged lik
cowardm continued the little man il
the same qniet voice, 'but you'll be
man now, of course. The boys will Sc
fair play. Shall it be pistol or lxnifey
If Big Jim's ewes hadn't been wild
omen we might have Thought him
dead man. You never saw terror NOR
plainly written on human face.
AIt's a little affair ofour own. gentl,
men. explained the stranger as h
turned to us. .f've Travelled Thousand
of miles while looking fo, Big Jim. I'v
been hunting him down. TO XIII or 4
killed. This world isn't big enough fo
both Of us. Arrange the details 70 su.
the crowd
Not one ofus had snolxen Inst 81
the stranger finished Bic lin recovere
from his stupor and made a move r.
his pistol. Like a fash of lightning III
5 Iit.t,, -, ~ -, ,,,,.,,,.-,5 - -,
e nun i'"ii i'".' nm e''eieu, anu 'ne
! ne laughed marsh, dry laugh and sai'
II ought to shoot you down like
dog. bnt IN Give Won a sbow Come N,
- ot.a,ls. -. =,
b nuoiS' 'i'aii ~ os Vlis or tle Auiie'
, Big jim turned white again and T.
lapsed into his former state of dunn
p mass The strangar snr,.evoa him
-, - - 20 0'' I'M
disgust ana eohtempt' ana py ana
turned TO us and said;