The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1907-10-27

| ltIe. dot. an tHt tthN ~ bt tlib'i
Have ye thought about That since ye
woke?"
Joe guped Jm's big form and
| handsome face rose i'll his mind. Jim
was the baby and had always been
nearest to old Joe's heart All the rest
| had gone the way of the fcudiStS. \
vision of Jim topping from some high
cliff with a bullet in his heart passed
| through his thoughts and Joe's chin
| sank on his breast.
tom. we're countn' purity fast" he
said presently. lifting his head again.
"Maybe the bullet will come the other
way
Maybe so. Some have come that
way in time
1t was ,IoeS turn to grin.
Don't reckon we've got any talk We
want to make afOre ! slit that vein in
yer neck. Joe?" Tom had drawn n
| knife from his pocket and was whet-
! ting a small blade Of it on the leather
vamp of his shoe.
mo. guess not. Tom. an if ye're de
| termined to do it that way there's no
use wastin' any more time, though it
| amt the clean thing. Tom. an We know
| it. Amt nary Dunston before that
| died any other way than by long
range bullet That's all, Tom-all
| got to say.
Old Tom chuckled and continued to
! whet the blade of his knife. At length
| he tried the point of it with his thumb
| and was apparently satisfied with its
| keenness. Then he arose and went
| over to Joe, where he knelt by the lat
| ter's side.
"Look around, Joe he said. 'for
| where We see all the sunlight now will
be midnight to We in a few minutes.
| Ye're n brave man, an it's pity for
| We to die this way. but there amt no
| regulations in the feud We know
Tom began to feel about Joe's neck
for the vein and presently pressed it
| outward with his thumb. Joe had
| thrown his head backward. and Tom
| was bending low and locking upward
under his victims chin. Presently the
| sting of the knife thrust started old
Joe into madness. His head darted for
| ward with the suddenness of a ser
pents. and his long. amber hued teeth
snapped down upon the throat of his
| captor. There was gnrgle in Tom
| throat: then his windppe closed, and
| as Joe's likelihood. gushing from the
wound in his neck. dyed the young ivy
shoots and the green grass in the bot
| tom of the gorge the death set of his
| laws sealed the doom of his slayer In
little while every CULVER of the flesh
| had ceased. and one more tragedy of
the feud had left its story more plainly
readable than words could make it.
| The midday sun looked down into
the chasm. A pheasant preened herself
in narrow trail among the laurel.
while woodcock ran up the tall. limb
| less trunk of dead spruce pine and
silence of the gorge sent out the long.
low roll of his drumming.
Ruth Wylie stood in the cabin door
way watching the trail that led down
the ravine, winding from one side to
tllC UlueI IL SouSHl thC tdSiCt asetNht
or descent of the projecting powders.
| Darkness was stealing slowly up from
| the depths of the hollow, and still no
sign of old Tom gliding along up the
| path in his habitually stealthy manner.
Dads uncommon late tonight, it
| pears to me-" The girl took step
down and sat upon the doorsill. Her
| oh .rlo l. ,ir, oh in,
the sunshine for she had been bending
over the evening fire baking the corn
pone and frying the bacon for the
nights meal. From the table came the
odor of the meat. 1t f1oated out through
the doorway on the evening atmos-
phere and was appetizing to the sense.
"If dad could smell the meat reckon
in any longer. l wonder what he can
be dom anyhow
| A feeling of uneasiness darted
through her as she thought of the
feud; but. suddenly rising. as if to es
| cape some burden, she hurled the
thought from her. "'Tain't that No.
faint that" she declared as she sat
uON Iii uEdIH.
But the twilight deepened into dark
| ness, the stars came out, the meat
| grew cold on the table, and its odor no
| longer told of its SAVIOR. Still old Tom
| had not come. Ruth peered into the
| darkness at every cracking of the
| twigs, but nothing materialized to her
| longing. 1t had been years since old
| Tom had spent night away from
home, not since the night when young
| Tom was shot down on the side of Lit
| tie Craggy. The girl fell to counting
| the stars and saying to herself:
Before l can count hundred he
will be here
But the hundred grew to 200, then to
800. Then she began and counted
them all over again. Hour after hour
dragged away, and the moon had
climbed to position i'm the heavens
1 L.. 1s..tA =