The herald., 1893-07-13

most foolish acts of my life.
The girl was known as "Press," half
caste Mexican creature, who gave Brown
the larger share Of her earnings, bore his
blows with meelzness and would have
driven stiletto into the man who con-
quered him in an encounter. But Hall
was saying:
eve learned at San Angelo yesterday
that Brown was at the cattle ranch.
Sergeant Watson got quite thick with
the girl Press, but she knew nothing
about Brown or pretended ignorance.
We intended to reach the ranch at sun
set, but the norther stopped us.
"That girl Press is devoted to Brown
and would raise money some way to
bribe Mexican to warn him, but money
would not hire Mexican, or any other
man, to face this norther, so there is no
danger that he will be on guard. He
cannot escape unless he was caught out
on the range in the storm and is now at
some other ranch"
There was only faint glow in the
east when we mounted our horses next
morning. The norther had spent its fury,
and tho promise of pleasant day was
borne ON the soft winds of the south.
Only faint tremor, lingering chill in
the early air, as if the trees and grass
were shaking off the coldness of the
night. A sharp ride to the westward,
and Just as the scarlet banners of the
sun was seen in the horizon we drew
rein in the wood some hundred yards
from the house where Jack Brown was
supposed to be hiding. The ranchhouse
was wretched thing constructed of up
right poles, the cracks being filled with
mud. At the rear shed with q sloping
roof. The house had been built within
few feet of the stream where the bank
was some 12 feet high. A door in the
front room opened to the southwark;
one in the shed to the north.
Like Indians surrounding the cabin of
the settler, the rangers stationed them
selves in the form of a horseshoe around
the house, the points" or ''heels" Of the
shoe resting on the bank of the stream
when the rear door could be commanded
by cross fire. l confess / felt, as I
watched these preparations, very much
as imagine robber must feel while he
reconnoiters a dwelling when intent
upon some unlawful undertaking. Ev.
erything was ready. Captain Hall, Lieu
tenant Ward, Caswell and four rangers
rode to the front of the house and
stopped some hundred feet from the
door. Then, for the first time, we saw
horse tied to post near the doorway.
Steam was rising from its sides; low
dropping head and hollow fanks showed
that the brute had been ridden long and
hard.
Zone of the men has just got home"
whispered Captain Hall as he dismount-
ed. Accompanied by three Of the ran
gers, while the fourth held the horses, he
walked to the door.
''Hello!" was the response to his knock.
A short parley, a demand for admittance,
profane reply and then the sharp re-
port of a rifle. One of the rangers turned
his back toward the house, took one step
and fell heavily on his face. Crashl A
dozen winchesters sent dozen bullets
into the house. Some struck the poles,
but few found their way through the
mud mended cracks. No order to seek
shelter of tree was needed now. In
! two minutes Lieutenant Ward and Cas-
| we'll had added their rifles to the fire,
and after it was all over l found that the
magazine Of my own winchester was
empty. tfa
The passion of man hunt conquers, as
it always will until in the evolution of
time the intoxication Of battle is out
bred from human nature. l don't know
how long we fired or how long the
answering shots came from the shanty,
but suddenly the door was flung inward,
and man stepped boldly out.
An instant the rifles cooled. I saw
Jack Browns gaudy sombrero, its wide
rim and massive crown glistening with
silver ornaments. Black hair hanging
to the shoulders, the leather "chaps" of
cowboy, and then-straight outward
shot two arms, cleaning black eyes
sighted two heavy colts, and at their
report ranger dropped his rifle because
a bullet had shattered an arm. Then
volley.
The broad hat slipped downward over
the black eyes, straight up in the air
two pistols sent their harmless lead and
to the ground in q heap sank the body.
The rangers on guard at the rear ran
toward the front when their ears told
them the outlaw had braved his fate.
| We gathered around the fallen man, all
honoring in our hearts the hopeless dar-
ing of his death, and Captain Hall lifted
the sombrero from his face.
"The devill" he yelled. "Run to the
rear, boys!" a4 7
Too latel Idle to beat the bush. Use
less a hasty hunt through the timber,
Long afterward we knew that from the
limb of an oak, around which q wild
grapevine had woven its dense foliage,
Jack Brown saw sight which would
have redeemed being worth, in the
broad economy of eternal time, the trou-
BILE of redemption.
Love had faced that awful storm.
Love had done its best to bring warn.
ing. Love laid down it's life that mis-.
cradle and worse than worthless man
might spring out of door, plunge over
an embankment and hide in a tree.
AS tenderly as if her life had been all
purity and her soul all untouched by
sin we bore her body to the fort, and the
next day, decently dressed in the gar
ments of her sex, the body of Press was
consigned to an unmarked grave on a
barren hill not many yards from the spot