Courier Democrat., 1904-12-08

I = 1
The D.ake. still smiling. caught the de-
ecesdtm9 fst
good fellow, we'll up to his work as a
cattle man and too much of gentle
man to feel. much less assert. any su-
periosiU Of station. he had the lar
gest ranch in the country and was one
Of the few men making money.
Ashleys chief friend. or at least most
frequent companion, was man whom
they called the Duke. No one knew
his name. but every one said be was
''the son Of lord" and certainly from
his style and bearing he might be the
son Of almost anything that was high
enough in rank. He drew "a remit
tance." but as that was paid through
Ashley no one knew whence 1t came
nor how much 1t was. He was per-
feet picture of man. and in ali west
ern virtues was easily first. He could
rope q steer. bunch cattle, play poker
or drink whisky to the admiration Of
his friends and the confusion Of his
foes, Of whom he had few. while as
to "bronco busting" the virtue par ex
celience Of western; cattle men. even
Bronco Bill was heard to acknowledge
that "he wasn't in it With the Dock
for it was his opinion that he could
ride anything that had legs in under it,
even if it was blanked cenuped."
And this. coming from one who made
q profession of ''bronco busting" was
unquestionably high praise.
The Duke lived alone. except when
he deigned to pay visit to some lonely
rancher who. for the marvellous charm
OF his talk. was delighted to have him
as guest, even at the expense Of the
loss of few games at poker. He
made a friend of no one. though some
men could tell of times when be stood
between them and their last dollar. ex-
acting only the promise that no men
ton should be made of his deed. He
had an easy. lazy manner and a slow,
cynical smile that rarely left his face,
and the only sign of deepening passion
in him was little broadening of his
smile. Old I-atour. who kept the Stop
ping Place. told me how once the
Duke had broken into gentle laugh
A French half breed freighter on his
way north had entered into d game Of
poker with the Duke, with the result
that his six months pay stood in
little heap at his enemy's left hand.
The enraged freighter accused his
smiling opponent of being cheat, and
was proceeding to demolish him with
one mighty blow. But the Duke. still
smiling and without moving from his
chair. caught the descending fist,
slowly crushed the fingers open and
steadily drew the Frencnnau to his
knees. gripping him SO cruelty in the
meantime that he was forced to CRY
aloud in agony for mercy. Then it was
that the Duke broke into light laugh
and. touching the kneeling Frenchman
on his cheek with his finger tips. said:
| Look here, my man. you shouldn't
play the game till you know how to do
it and with whom you play" Then,
handing him back the money he added:
II want money, but not yours" = .en,
as he sat looking at the unfortunate
wretch dividing his attention between
his money and his bleeding fingers. he
once more broke into g gentle laugh
/ that was not good to hear.
| The Duke was by all odds the most
striking figure in the Company OF the
Noble Seven. and his word went
further than that of any other. His
shadow was Bruce, an Edinburgh uni.
versity man. metaphysical. argumenra-
tive. persistent, devoted to the Duke.
Indeed. his chief ambition was to at.
tain to the Dukes high and lord,y
| manner, but inasmuch as he was
rather squat in figure and had an open.
good natured face and Scotch voice
of the hard and rasping kind. his at
tempts at imitation were not conspicu-
ously successful Every mail that
reached Swan Creek brought him a LEI.
ter from home. AT first. after had
got to know him. he would give me
now and then letter to read. but as
tne tone became more and more
anxious he ceased to let me read them.
and was glad enough Of this. How
ne could read those letters and 90 the
pace OF the Noble Seven l could not
zee. Poor Bruce! He had good i'm
pulses. generous heart. but the per
NIT nights and the hunts and the
round ups and the poker and al the
wud excesses Of the Company were
more than he could stand.
Then there were the two Hill bcots.
81. the yosneee. Bsene, 4 fair hairsd