The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1904-08-27
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| II she mad known, but / didn't ask her
4 to take the job. / knew there wasn't
any reform in me, and even If I had
been reformed down to the ground,
wouldn't have been good enough for
hsT. I didn't poster her once with any
| news of me and my feelings, only
usEd to watch for her sonstimes, and
| would talk a little. l would stand
away on: alorg the trail till her pony
came by--then I'd so back to the camp
| and think. Thinking is good for fell
low when he gets sentimental, It's a
| darrell sight hstter than talking. That
slip Of a girl kept me pretty straight
| for tin2e, only she didn't know it.
\ The rum tent could have gone dry for
| Iii of me, ana my muscles got 50 soft
| frcA stand-idle they were almoss fab
| little kid"
Zilk stopped abruptly.
Were does Jim Dowly cone in?'
asked Bob.
ELK looked up.
Dowly?" he said, musingly. as if it
]
! his mind, ''Dowly2 Lord! / must
have been born hating him! AT any
rate, we had fe3pd SO long back that
I've forgotten how the thing stan ed.
| 1t wasn't the feud, anyway, that made
| me hate Jim, nut just his pure cussed-
ness. Sometimes, though, feel as if
| I'd be lonesome If I really did take a
drop on him, I've got SO used to hating
| him. "
What's he got to do with the girl?"
Bob asked, gingerly. We expected
| some objections. but zone came. Zilk
was evidently perfectly willing 10 go
through his cross-examination
Hes married to her." he said,
grufly
"The devil!'' Bob exclaimed Every
man in the group started. Zilk had
spoiled our story; we didn't want It to
end that 'vay.
Hes married to her." Zi1k repeat
cd, and it all happened because
didn't kill him, when it was plainly up
to me to do it. There's a time for all
things in this world, and the man who
slips his chance has to pay for it.
Simpson moved uneasiiy in his seat.
You're still laying for him, EN-" he
asked, with % tinge of disapproval in
his tome
ELK smiled I'm still laying for
him." he said, land the lay re breaks
the little kids heart is the s1ay I put
a hole in his. That's all. ! JUS want
ed you follows to know"
What for?" asked Be-.
Zilk smiled again. You'll under
stand later" he said; and we did, for
Jim Icwly came to the camp next
week
Ike Simpson, general philanthropist
and friend of tramps. took me into his
tent the next day, and bunked along
side Of Zilk I like tho man, and be-
came his partisan I even found my
self plotting the taking off of Dowly,
as deliberately as if he had been my
own particular enemy instead of Zilk S;
but when he came avoided him as
would the pest, and prayed inWardly
that 1ills would't learn he was in the
camp. The news was out the next
day. ELK took it calmly; he didn't
even load his gun, which disappointed
me somewhat. AfterWard I learned
that he never un1oaded the critter ey-
eept on proyoeation.
It's strange thing, but the habitues
of a rough mining camp banker for a
killing with as much vim as the aver
age rancher bankers for a legitimate
funeral. Then, after the killing Is
overa they will get in and legislate for
justice with new supply of vim, or
string the eulprit uIa if he happens to
be unpopular ELK had taken us into
his confidence and We were pledged to
play fair with him. We knew that he
wasn't a man to use his dirk in the
dark, and we didn't put any guards on
duty. officers If mining camp are
not very strong on preventing crime.
The girl Ziik loved? suppose she
ought to be described somewhere, but
I've always been SO disappointed that
couldn't describe her just as ELK
saw her, that I draw back from the
task. ELK wasn't a keen Judge of
feminine beauty: he hadn't known
many to compare her with. To him
she was beautiful. To us? Well, she
was Jim Dowly's wife, a dull-looking
mountain girl, rugged, healthy and or
binary. And ELK had put her up on
q pedestal, and had thought her worlds
too good for him Maybe she was.
That wasn't the question we were
called upon to decide
Thay haki been married only short
time, ELK said, and he didn't know
Why they had come to the camp. He
seemed to avoid them, on the whole.
4 thought he had discarded all
thoughts of vengeance, until one night
when I saw him sitting at the door of
the te1.t ramming fresh cartridges in
TO his revolver, he seemed to be
changing them for mere sport
I'm going to cut across the pass"
he said. followed him at a distance.
was not exactly tenderfoot, even
in those days, but had something OF
the preacher in my nature. and it was
liable to crop out at inopportune mo-
1nents.
What in the devil did Zilk want to
kill Jim Dow1y for, / asked myself.
ELK was f1rst-rate fellow and an or
nament= to the camp. and the girl
wasn't worth it. Here he was getting
ready to throw UP his best chance in
life, and his soul along with it. for
scamp ~ho wasa't worth the powder