The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1900-05-09

Our horses picked their own way
down the dark. bowlder strewn hillside.
When we reached the plain. there was
an instant's pause. Lee drew his rifle
from the beckett that rested under his
left knee.
"Ready?" he asked was quite as
ready as Twas likely to be. but he wait
ed for no reply. Dropping the reins on
the neck Of his horse, he sent home his
spurs and dashed out into the moon
light, yelling like an Indian and pump
ing his repeating rife with both hands
as he went AS we came Spider swerv-
ed his horse and drew his pistol Then
he recognized us.
s.HoorayN" he yelled at the top of his
shrill voice 81 knowed you'd come.
We got en-. Whcop! Yip. zip, zip.
Come on ben a-follerin them thieves
all night.
Lee and were riding side by side.
Spider was some little distance ahead,
shouting these remarks over his shoul-
der. He intended to stay ahead, too, for,
ride as we might, neither Lee nor l
could catch him. The three men who
were driving our cattle did not wait for
us. Firing an Ineffective shot or two
they turned to one side and vanished in
the shadow of the hill Spider turned
his horse in pursuit
.sCome backi'' called Lee ''Come
back here. You kid! You crazy o.
Spider paid no attention whatever.
but rode on at the best speed his pony
could show
Come back. say, or I'll rope your
pony an throw himl" shouted Lee
again.
..Have ter get within cast first, an
you cant do it. returned Spider de-
family. What he said was quite true.
We were losing ground at every stride.
We were we'll into the shadow now.
ssCome back!'' called in despair.
"Will you obey orders or not % Spider
stopped instantly.
.sCourse, if it's an order it goes, he
said. "But what d'you wanter pull up
fer when we JUS got er chance ter get
them thieves?' Lee had no words to
waste at the time He took Spider by
the collar Of his flannel shirt, lifted
him half out of his saddle, shook him
soundly. cuffed his ears and then re-
turned him, with a thump, to his seat.
'sS'pose you wanter get er hole shot
in your fool little hide jus because You
think it's smart, said Lee, when be
had completed these operations to mis-
satisfaction ''You couldn't tell where
them rustlers was a-waitin fer you in
the dark there Now get them cattle
movin fer home er I'll take off yer
chaps an spank you with 'em. To my
great surprise Spider took these correc-
tions and cantered away to obey his
orders without word. But, then, Lee
had always been very good to Spider.
''s'pose l reelly oughter not shook
i'm so, the cowboy went on regretful-
ly when Spider had left. 81 couldn't
let i'm get SO uppity. though. Their
wouldn be 10 livin in the same camp
with I'm. But he scared me, that's a
fact. That's reelly why ! thumped i'm.
I'd be mighty sorry if that kid got
hurt, an he was fixin ter get hurt the
very best he knowed. Here he comes,
now, GRIMM SO the grin runs ever his
face all down his back.
'sThem rustlers was a-waitin fer me.
was they?" called Spider as soon as he
got close enough. ''Well, jus you look
over there once. He pointed to a
moonlit space between two deep shad-
ows nearly mile away. Three men on
horseback were crossing it rapidly.
going in the direction of Aqua Caliente
There was no doubt about their being
the thieves No other men would have
been likely to be in that deserted place
at such time. or, if they had been.
they would have shown themselves be-
fore when Spider was firing distress
signals.
s,Do you suppose that those fellows
will go after more men and then come
down en- us?' asked Lee as Spider re-
turned to his work.
<.Nope, replied the cowboy. They
cant afford ter take no chances. er
they'd a staid an fought it out 1t aim
no joke fer man ter get ketched llftln
cattle roun here You en- raise the
country ter so after i'm. an if he's
caught he don t get ter jail alive. Them
fellers was goater take these here cattle
across the line into Mexico-it ain t
:noren n &c miles from Aqua Caliente-
an sell em there. Better get them cat
tie over the divide an movin to rds
home, though, as soon as we kin It's
mos sun up now.
The cattle, tired and thirsty. started
willingly enough toward our camp by
the river. but they moved very slowly.
after the manner of cattle We had onr
hands full in hurrying them. all three
of US.
AS Lee had said. it was nearly sun
rise The cattle had hardly crossed the
low ridge when the SUBMITS of the
hills were reddened by the first beams
of the sun that shot up over the level