Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1901-07-19
and would not get back FOR

1T was easier than ropin a blind
heifer ter know wat sent him on, Miss
Minnie" the man said with grin.
HE heerd tibet Zeke was still hard at
work cuttin' -out, an it made him look
sickish."
Miss Scott raised her head haughtily
and blushed. 'fMr Raglan's affairs are
J not mine" she said. 81 asked for him
merely from curiosity. | don't know
what you mean" Miss Scott had been
| to school in Austin.
TrImble had sense, and he knew that
| 1t was his time to throw his rope WHEN
| the maverick was straight ahead Of him
and in the open. He quadri,ied with
| the girl and waltzed with her and Ian
cered and schottisched and mazurkaed
and polkaed A little after midnight he
| got her into a corner, the othe- folks
| being mostly crowded at the far end OF
| the room, and whispered to her, his yell
! low moustache close to her little ear
| She turned pale while he was whisper
| ing then looked up at him and gave him
her right hand. Anybody looking at
| them would have known that something
had happened. After that Trimble got
positively gay. He laughed good deal
and his eyes followed Miss Minnie about
the room as If she belonged to him, and
he was proud of it.
At 3 O'Clock In the morning they were
lined up for the Virginia reel, forty eou-
pies of them. Trimble and mis- sweet
heart stood at the far end OF The line.
The boss fiddler gave scrape or two
and opened his mouth to call the FIRST
figure, when shout rolled down the
room:
Hold up, there My turn to dance!"
Bill Raglan stood in the door, half
drunk and white in the face. With him
was Red" Symonds, of Fort Concho.
Symonds held sawed-off shotgun and
it was pointed straight down the row
of dancers. He was drunken than Rag
Ian and was saying nothing. The men
and women stood as If cut out OF rock.
Raglan walked slowly down the room,
his eye fixed on Trimble When he got
to him, he slipped his hand behind him,
drew his pistol and damned it against
Zeke's lips.
"You cowardly COYOTE he said, "this
Is the way you try to steal my girl, is
1t? Say a word and you're corralled
right here"
AS he talked he damned the muzzle
against Trimble's face again and again,
and 1t left white rings on the flesh. No
body moved. Then, with slight wrist
motion, he raised the weapon a little
and let the end of it fall on Zekc's fore
head, bringing the blood. He looked
hard at the girl, laughed and walked
out. Ten seconds later, as the crowd
surged to the door, the rattle of hoofs
was heard Raglan and Symonds were
gone into the night.
The people tried to resume the reel.
but there was no heart in them. Minnie
Scott stood with both arms about her
dads neck and cried on his shoulder
Trimble went up to her and tried to
say something, but she only chung the
closer, and old man Scott growled:
Cit away. No man like you kin talk
to my darter!"
The young fellow looked around. He
met glances of contempt from the men.
In the eyes of some of the women was
pity; in the eyes of the others disgust.
Then it came to him that they had
branded him as a coward. He got as
white of chalk, picked up his pistol,
buckled 1t to him and went out. He
was not at Bar G ranch next morning.
Some wages were owed to him, but lie
did not stop to collect them. Raglan
stayed on the Running w ranch for a
month. He did not hear from the girl,
nor she from him. He talked a good
deal about his successful invasion of
the dance and his cowboy associates
made much Of him. Then he, too.
tlTeu VI SlOIy dHu WcuC away. ILo
Diamond men noticed that Miss Min
ME was more quiet than of old, but that
was the only change in her.
One afternoon in summer old Buck"
got back from Alpine with the ranch
mail and handed her a newspaper, d.
rected to her in scrawling hand. She