Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1899-07-25

shet Jack wuz gone. guessed thet it
concerned him, an he grabbed me by
the arm an sed What's up, AmeY
Out with it. Where is he7 Is he hurt
Well. it took the breath an all the wits
out of me, an / blurted out: Yes.
Coyote killed him last night ut the
Merino an then lit out north We
thought he wuz after you- Simpson 8
bringin Jack out now.
s'For minute there wuz grip like
wise on my arm. then his hand drop
ped. an half turnin away he commenced
talkin to himself
Sc Poor Jackl He always wuz moth
er's pet. an when he Joined the army
how proud she wuzl He waz han some
in his uniform. Killed in saloonl
Thank God she's deadi'''
cit seemed year to us as we shuffied
from foot to foot before he moved Then
he gave start like he wuz pullin him
self together an turned to us, the very
devil shinin out of his eyes. he looked
ten years older, but his hand went to
his hip. an we knew he hedn't lost any
of the spunk he he'd when the Apaches
killed his pardner, Jim Ross
"'Coyotel Why, he wuz here this
mornin an drew his pay! Said he wuz
goin to work over east on the Santa
Ysabel Boys. Jack wuz NOR n life to
me; he wuz mothers pet. an | must
stand by me an help me hunt the cur
DOWN.
every one of us swore we'd not stop
till we'd strung him up.
Then get hosses out of the corral
take plenty of fresh ones, Pack up your
grub. How soon will Simpson be here2
He ought to be here now, an
swered
"In half an hour we rode out on
Coyotes trail. leavin the old man to fol-
low. He wanted last look at Jack, an
we didn't care to be around about thet
time, because we wuz anxious to have
whirl at Coyote,
at wuz about two hours before he
caught up with us He wuz sittin firm
in the saddle. his head up an his lips
pressed firm together. Barker pointed
to the trail, an he just nodded an put
spurs to his hoss
Next mornin he had us up at 4. an
we struck out. We passed "A ranch where
Coyote he'd, once killed cowboy. an
when we told about Jack the rancher
insisted on some of MS whose hosses wuz
winded taIin some of his
Toward night we began to catch up
on our game an saw thet his hoss must
be gettin tired. We pounded away till
nigh o'clock an then camped. cause
our ponies needed rest an we might
miss our man in the dark At daylight
we wuz in the saddle again. The old
man hadn't slept wink. but he kept
the lad.
''It wuz 10 o'clock when we caught
sight of Coyote. He wuz ridin slow an
maxim for Humphreys peak. lfnowin
thet if he reached the mountains we
never could get him.
"We made short cut fur the ford
thet lies at the base of thet bluff an
rode like the devil wuz after us, but
there wuzn't any of us could keep up
with the old man. He wuz ridin big
black stallion thet he broke in the
spring-the fastest hoss in the country
"Coyote saw us an realized it meant
a race fur the ford. He he'd little the
best of us on distance, but he hedn' t
calculated on the old mans black stall
lion when he turned around in the sad
die an waved his hand to u.s. There
wuz cuss from every man as he set
tied deeper in the saddle an stuck spurs
GLOW thet half breed devil could
ridel We were gainin slowly, but he
wuz much closer to the ford than we
wuz. Still the old man wuz 500 yards
ahead of us an his hoss goin full an
free. Pretty soon we saw a puff of
smoke. heard a report. an the old man g
hat went off. Fur a minute he raised
his gun, then lowered it, leaned for
ward an gave the black the spur.
Fur ten minutes we went on thet
way, hosses an men strainin every
nerve, when Barker's hoss went down,
played out, an we left him swearin like
a pirate.
within a hundred yards of the ford
Coyotes hoss stumbled an fell, an he
rolled over an over. We gave shout,
fur we thought we he'd him, but he
jumped up an ran fur the ford. Then
he stopped an looked back He could
make it if it wuzn't fur the old man
Up went his rifle, an we saw Palmer
lay forward on his hoss neck. The
ether shot had showed him thet it
wouldn't do to make any better target
of himself than necessary.
"Again the puff of smoke. the report.
an the black stallion staggered. ran 10