The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1902-06-06

horse with exhaustion. She actually
did so, as a tall figure stepped out
of the shadows by the gate. ooh,
Nelson!" she sobbed, and flung her
self off her horse into his arms with
an utter abandon, as one who has
found refuge.
"Take her." said McNair, with the
savagery of defeat in his voice.
! swell settle this tomorrow" said
| Brownlee, and the brief words
were vibrant with passion. .Come,
lima, we shall have time for one
dance!"
'Oh, 1 can't!" cried the girl; "look
at me! And am so stiff I can't stand
on my feet
'You must come, all the same" de-
clared Nelson, and there was that in
his tone which overbore all obiec-
ton. He strobe across the street
with lima under his arm, and they
mounted the stairs to the hall
where the ball was concluding with
the Virginia reel, amid tumult of
hilarity.>
Next morning McNair had gone
down the road about his business,
so the settlement was deferred.
Two weeks later Brownlee and
lima were married, and the bride
went out to the ranch with her hus-
band. The first time they came into
town afterward, kind friends told
them that George McNair was say
ing to everybody all up and down
the road, from luna to Jack Rabbit,
that Nelse Brownlee was welcome to
what he had got. Brownlee sent
word to McNair that he would brand
him for liar the first time they
met. McNair bought six-shooter,
and everyone awaited the scrimmage
| without much doubt as to the result,
for Brownlee could hit the picture on
a tomato can every time at twenty
PAGES. His acquittal was foregone
conclusion, for everyone said that
McNair deserved killing, no matter
what the facts.
Affairs were at this pass when, one
morning early, McNair got on his
railroad velocipede at Bod, and pro-
ceeded to work his passage over a
ten-mile stretch of desert to siding
where he had some men at work.
Three or four miles out he perceived
a horseman Looping along at right an
giles to the track. Any horseman
might be Nelse Brownlee, and he
fa1f Ae
preached the meeting point he saw
that it was Brownlee, and watched
keenly for any hostile demonstra-
ton. None was made, and he passed
on and left Nelse in his rear, while
the latter was still some distance
from the track. His spine felt some
what creepy, but he had known Nelse
too many years to believe he would
shoot man in the back. But pres
emily swish like sky-rocket taking
it's rise came by his ear, the veloci-
pede went on, on down grade, and
George McNair lay stunned and help
less in the sagebrush beside the right
of way. When his faculties returned
he found that he was lying on his
back, his arms pinioned tightly to
his sides by Brownlee's RATA, which
Brownlee's mare, standing like a
bronze casting of horse, was hold
ing as taut as a bowstring, while
Brownlee himself had started little
fire at the foot of the railway en-
bankment.
He lay quiet, as indeed, he perforce
must, considering the position as well
as his somewhat dazed faculties
would permit, until Brownlee walked
over and looked down at him.
"For Gods sake, Nelse," he said
then, "what are you going to do?''
"What I said," returned Brownlee,
grimly, "brand you for liar!"
McNair's flesh quivered on lis
bones in anticipatory agony.
eff you do, you know I'll kill you"
he said.
"Not if I see you first, you won't, "
| returned Brownies; "but, if you kill
me forty tinres, it will not take the
brand out of your cheek that am
going to put there, you BLACKBOARD.
Steady, there, Lola"
When McNair saw Brownlee APP
preaching with the red-hot iron, a
| neat little L that he had had made,
pending the opportunity, his man.
hood left him in the lurch. Both the
pain and the Disagreement seemed
uncomfortable. He wept hot tears of
impotent rage, and humbled himself
and promised any reparation ex-
acted, but the stern face bending
over him never softened for an in
slant, and the steady hands, pressing
the iron into his smooth cheek,
turned his prayers into blasphemy.
It was over in an instant, Brownlee
threw down the branding-iron and
| turned away without a word. He
mounted Lola, still standing with
muscles tense as steel, severed the
RATA with on stroke of his knife, and
drew his revolver as he wheeled.
But McNair was quicker than he an
ticipated. Writing himself free
from the relaxed rope, he sprang to
his feet, drew his gun, and fred,
with but one muscular impulse, as it