The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-08-11

ard two inches saved this yarn from going
untold. I looked at her, and saw that What
was my bcrnden duty would never be done
by me that night. Still. / ought to have
hsmstrung her " Forbes was. as seemed
certain, IN that house. Z ought to have
done it, and cut eff his retreat that way.
but J just could not. j Inn that sort. 1t
wasn't her heels that saved her; Ii was
the fact THAI she was a horse, and l love
dumb things.
i shut the door of the shed and went back
TO the house. l got under the wall and list
ened. The lighted window was open, and
voices proceeded from tia mans voice and
a child's. The mans voice belonged unmis-
takably TO Forbes. He was trying 10 tell
the child a story: but being deficient in
imagination and invention. could not man
age his incidents so as to satisfy her. She
was for ever interrupting TO ask a question
or to point oct the manifold inconsistencies
OF his narrative At last he gave up the
effort in despair, and 1 heard a sound OF
romping.
moved cautiously out of the shadow and
made q circuit Of the house. Every door
was locked. / knew that if 1 wanted to
effect Forbes's capture l must take him
by surprise. He knew the penalty Of his
II isdeeds better than he knew the Com
mandments. and would not hesitate to
shoot IL ] was slow enough to let him in
first. He had come straight home, as l had
surmised he would, strong in the belief that
his private life was a secret from the au-
thorities. But that he would daily long
was unlikely. I had observed that his mare
had not had her saddle removed, though
she showed the marks OF severe hard rid
ing. 1 decided to wait until he came out to
continue his fight.
I waited for nearly an hour, and all that
while he was trying to say goodbye to MS
child. When he began to blubber like a
boy moved away from under the window,
for no man has a right to hear another
man do that. He was as fond Of that
youngster as any churchman and rate
payer. And / always think tina there
might have been & chance for Cain II
only he'd married young and raised a fam
lily.
Bladder must go now" said Forbes a
hundred times over. "And you must ask
the ladies at the school to look after you
till L come back. I'll send 'em the money.
And oh, it breaks one up to part from
you!'
He did it at last. I heard his footsteps
on the stairs and drew out my revolver.
He pulled the door back and lurched out.
! shouted, FORBES, l." He wheeled, but
/ had him covered. He uttered an oath.
There was a fash from his hip. L pulled
my own trigger, and in that instant 1 had
a sudden hot wet pang in my left shoulder.
He had shot at me through the leather
Of his breeches-a trick new TO me then.
The reports of our two weapons COM
mingled and were as one. / tottered and
fell against the wall Of the house with a
sickness as of death upon me-. Through
the haze that was c~logging my senses 1
heard a child's frightened scream. and then
l heard a mans hcarse voice trying in vain
to comfort her. After that I collapsed
weakly and lay on the wet mold
1 didn't quite lose my grip on myself al
together. IL you understand me, though l
was helpless as a spitted pig. Vaguely 1
knew that Forbes had crossed the mash
yard, and a little while after / heard the
thud of his horses hoofs, though / couldn't
make out what the sound was at the time.
1 lay there bleeding and in deadly pain;
but What hurt me most was the thought
that Forbes had got away.
/ don't know how l first became aware Of
the fact that my horse was looking for me.
/ think he whinnied. / know that | called
him feebly, and he came and pushed his
nose hard at my manned shoulder. He had
got tired of waiting, l suppose. and broken
away from the gate. He sort of cheered
me up and made me a man again. Some
how. anyhow, ] got on his back. and turned
his head back toward the village. | found
a doctor by ingeniously waking up the
saloon keeper, and 1 got my shoulder bound
up and some oil and wine poured into me.
Then I borrowed 6 horse, leaving my own
behind as security, and started off once
more on the bounty jumpers trail.
Nhere was only one road out of Sioux
City that q knowledgeable man would VEN
ture a horse upon, and I reckoned that
Forbes would think he had pretty we'll fin
ished me and not worry overmuch to cover
up bis track at first. He would plan to get
away as fast as he could before he started
troubling. And my horse was fresh, and his
was jaded with a day's hard riding. NV
spirits rose. and 1 hallooed my horse along
and made my vows in the presence of the
moon. I was feeling bad enough to play the
SLOUGH almost though. For my shoulder
burned and glowed. and my head was like a
madhouse. And 1t was like a Bowie knife
through me at every jolt when the road
cut up u UT.
The day broke and / was still I'm the sad
die travelling northwaro. \ stopped az a
farmhouse for a glass OF milk, and learned
that Forbes had passed that point on,y
an hour or so before on a dead-lame horse.
The farmer hadn't seen him, but he'd
heard the poor beast atumbling on the
rubble, and had named the rider a three
syllabled brute. 1 climbed into my saddle
again. rather profanely. and rode on.
l entered a plain-A great, w~ind-swept
grassy tract, with not a tree or a hill for
a man 10 rest his sight ON. You couldn't
miss anything within ten miles, and 1
looked ahead with all my eyes for Forbes.
The road ran straight as the way OF the
good, cleaving the everlasting green like
the parting down your hair, and less than
a mile away L saw a moving speck. /
roweled my poor beast till he danced. and
then W. went. The moving speck moved
Idly, 1 found, not away from me or toward
me, but back and forth across the track.
and hither and thither. aimlessly.
AS 1 progressed | saw that If the figure
were Forbes he had lost his horse: and IL
struck me that perhaps he was waiting in
that open place to pot me before 1 could
dismount TO secure him. / realized with
painful suddenness that I was by way of
being an unqualified fool. What chance
had /, a wounded man, % taking the 6es-
Derate bounty-jumper s~ingle-handed? I
had been so engrosssd by the thought OF
everything. else; And perhaps the pain Of