Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1905-08-11

Eye" Heustis the name OF being the
worst all-round bad man" In Texas,
using the term In the amplitude of its
Western significance. His escapes
from lynching were numerous and ro-
mantle, He had missed legal execu-
ton chiefly because no sheriff had sur
vived the preliminary operation OF
placing him under arrest.
He was cowboy when ranchman
could be found foolhardy enough to
engage him, but his real work, his
serious business in life was gambling.
Sometimes Providence protected the
settlement and "Red-Eye" lost; more
often he won, and when he did he
entered on campaign of riot and de-
vastation. He didn't as rule, yearn
for the culture and civilization of large
| towns at these times; he found wild
ar opportunity to let himself out in the
unconventional atmosphere OF the
more remote communities. Neyerthe-
less, the greatest celebration he ever
had, and the most momentous in its
| consequences, occurred in Galveston.
Toward the latter part of the Saturn
ALA, when he had satisfied all his in
stincts for lawless activity, and was
drinking anything, everything, hour
after hour, till he should reach state
Of general collapse as grand finale,
be wandered down to a dive in sailor
town, hardly block from the wharves
cowboy among the scum of the
waterfront, incongruous scene for his
| last stand!
The grog was, If possible, worse
than what flowed among his own kind,
and as evening drew on, "Red-Eye,"
seated by a greasy table in the rear OF
the room, mellowed to the pathetic,
confidential melancholia which, in
some cases, characterizes the last
stages Of an unduly protracted spree
Flinging himself back into an attitude
Of bitter abandon, he observed audi
bly, that he was "nothin' but a low
down, dirty, drunken bull-puncher;"
after an interval of sleepy muttering
he burst forth with the additional in
formation that he was mo good" and
Just as a thick-set, hard-faced young
fellow, fairly dressed and very sober,
dropped into the opposite chair, the
lnebriate was dilating on the impos-
sibility of getting back on "the Ring
bar X ranch"
Down in yer luck?" queried the
newcomer
'Taint the word, stranger" re-
sponded the cowboy.
Want to go to sea?"
'Sea? Go t SHEEP" ruminated the
bad man. "D'go to h-'f they'y lem
me sit n tn shade till sobered off,"
you come along with me; I'll fix
you up all right" said the younger
man; where's your OUTFIT"
Red Eye" named a resort not a
great way uptown, and muttering,
stumbling, stupidity drunk, the worst
man in Texas went forth conveyed by
the most notorious "crimp" on the
Gulf coast.
Fhey got back to the waterfront, in
time, burdened with an old valise and
roll of blankets, and, tossing these
into the bow of a little "dingy," the
shipping agent managed to land Red
Eye" in the stern, and taking the oars
himself put out into the darkened har-
Dor. The cowboy slumbered where he
lay, neither knowing nor caring with
er he went, nor why. There was no
sound but the measured "creak-clock,
creak-clock" of the rowlocks and the
a Of hn fovs d,
ran under the great, black, overhang-
ing stern of an anchored ship, and the
rover gave a hail. The cry aroused
"RedEye" momentarily, and in his
Tearing, upturned gaze at the mass
overhead he noticed the gilded name
"Boadicea,' sourrounded by SCROLL
work not improved by age.
''That you, Mr.. Hanaford?" called
the crimp to a figure overhead. :T've
got the man you want"
ANY good?" came the laconic reply.
Sure! He's an old hand; knows all
about ropes"
Send him aboard" A jacobs lad
der swished downward through the
night air, its end dangling in the waist
of the dingy. With labor and patience
Red Eye" was eventually landed on
deck, the crimp followed with his val
lse, took his blood-money, and with
a suggestion that the new recruit
might be sent below without delay
in view Of his inebriation, put out
from the ship with no undue tarry-
ing.
How the cowboy got below is a mys-
terry, but he did; fell into the fore
castle, fell into an empty bunk, and
with his dunnage for a pillow, spraw-
led there unconscious, unheeding
incapable of motion or thought, dead
drunk, till the sun and the bo'sun rose.
The cold dawn was announced with
a roar down the companionway:
Come on, now, you useless ours; turn
out before you're kicked out, and do
something for your grub" They did
turn out, sleepily, reluctantly, a sorry
looking band, and one took compass
sion on Red Eye" shaking him and
whispering. Come on, mate, wake
up. The bo'sun will murder you if he
comes down and finds you asleep"
But nothing could rouse him. The
bo'sun's simple attentions in the way
of kicks, profanity, and buckets of
water caused only a transient fiutter
of consciousness, and that worthy fin
ally left him to "sleep It off," the mate
suggesting that he wasn't worth the
trouble of waking. In fact, the YES
sci had been three days at sea before
RED Eye" was in condition to come
on deck. When he did appear, he got
a royal welcome. Clumsy and ignor-
ant of sailor work as he was, in adj
dition to being Yankee" the cock
ney bo'sun gave him special attention
and within five minutes an officer and
gentleman" came forward from the
quarterback expressly to knock him
down and then kick him onto his feet
again, and the Texan was still too
weak and bewildered by his new sur
roundings to resist
Brutal as it was, RED Eyes treat