Fairhaven herald. [volume] (Fairhaven, Wash.) 1890-????, 1892-12-11

lun. Milly aud | for awhile sat and
watched the others, and got no end Of en-
joyment out it. In the corner nearest us,
Rice, with the grace natural to men born
south of Mason and Dixon's line, was say
ing pretty things to a big, freckled raw
boned ella monster" with a pink dress
and magenta sash, who responded to his
remarks with an occasional Jaw, shot
Y're stuffin me-" or "G'way, now Ye
must think rs Dawn yistiddy."
MacTavish, with his broad Gaelic brogue,
was trying TO talk to a pretty Mexican girl
whose stock Of English was very limited,
and who could not understand word he
said. But Mac was never so contented as
when he was doing all the talking and the
young lady's oft repeated Isl, senor-si,
Eenor," and a glance from her dark eyes
now and then made him perfectly happy
and quite confident that he was making a
brilliant impression.
Then across the room there was young
cowboy, who was dressed up, and seemed
TO feel 1t. He wore a pair Of noisily striped
trousers, seersucker coat and vest, and
blue cotton shirt, with paper collar, and
on his shirt front was an artificial flower,
pink in color, of species unknown, and fly
specked to a considerable degree. But he
was, OH so proud of It'll Every now and
then he would stroke it and readjust it
carefully, and his satisfied air clearly
proved that he felt himself the best dressed
man in the room. His partner was a tall,
thin girl with red hair worn in Psyche
knot, red dress and white sash.
Presently, between dances, in came a
couple Of the Miles boys, with beer and
lemonade.
"Hold on, you hands" shouted Nose
Miles to the musicians; wait till / water
these yere heifersl And he proceeded TO
let the "heifers" refresh themselves ac-
cording TO preference, informing the men,
EFF you all wants waterin, go tew il; it's
thar an | sho' amt goin T. hustle fer you
COW hans"
Pretty soon | noticed that Rice was
paying considerable attention to one Of the
ella girls, a pretty little thing whose
father raised garden truck few miles up
the river. He danced half a 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 ii 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 "A warning to Rice, but he
only shook his head and laughed. "Pshawl
he won't do anything-not tonight any
how All right; Pm only going to dance
with her this once more" he whispered;
and | left him, half satisfied, but still
somewhat apprehensive of trouble.
1t came. The next dance was a quadrille,
and Rice and his partner were just taking
their places in the first set when Harve
Bragg, his face like 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 it influence to act rs he had
See yere, Mister Manp Kissed Bragg
Overwhelmingly; this yere foolins ben goin
on long 'nough. Let loose O that heifer
an give a white man a shown
Rice's eyes blazed. He stepped back a
couple of PAGES out Of hearing Of the wom-
en-, and answered with quiet earnestness:
Go to hi, siri I'd have you under
stand that no white eyed COW puncher can
bullyrag me. I'm going TO finish this
dance-and more, II choose. But II you
have anything to say about il, I'll accom-
modate you after this quadrille in any way
you like"
Bragg's eyes sparkled "Gunsi" he
asked eagerly.
Yes; 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.
Nowl
Two shots rang Out almost simultane
ously Harve Bragg felt sharp pain in
his left shoulder, but kept pulling the
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 was talking q
one Of the Miles girls.