The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1908-02-07
The Spoilers.
By REX e. BEACH.
:. copyrisht. 1905. Rex E. Reach.
Bv REX e. BEACH.

hrm. I'll never leave you again, an0,
moreover, l know the lower trail
quite well. Well go down the gulch
to the valley and reach town that
way. It's farther, but it's not so
dangerous"
"YOu can't ride" she insisted.
II can If you'll tie me into the sad
die. Come, get the horses"
1t was still pitchy dark and the rain
was pouring, but the wind only sighed
weakly, as though tired by its vio-
lence, when she helped the Bronco into
his saddle. The effort wrenched q
groan from him, but he insisted upon
her tying his feet beneath the horses
belly, saying that the trail was rough
and he could take no chance Of fall
ing again; 80. having performed the
last services she might for Strive, she
mounted her own animal and allowed
it to pick its way down the steep de-
scent behind her brother, who swayed
and lurched drunkenly in his seat,
gripping the horn before him with
both hands.
They had been gone perhaps a half
hour when another horse plunged furi-
ously out of the darkness and halted
before the roadhouse door. Its rider.
mud stained and disheveled, flung
himself in mad haste to the ground
and bolted in through the door. He
saw the signs of confusion in the out
er room, chairs upset and broken, the
table wedged against the stove and be-
fore the counter a. shattered lamp In
pool of oil. He called loudly, but,
receiving no answer, snatched light
which he found burning and ran to
the door at his left. Nothing greeted
him but the empty tiers Of hunks.
Turning, he crossed to the other side
and burst through. Another lamp was
lighted beside the couch where Strive
lay, breathing heavily, his lids half
closed over his staring eyes. Roy
noted the pool of blood at his feet and
the broken window; then, setting down
his lamp, he leaned over the man and
spoke to him.
When he received no answer he
spoke again loudly. Then, in q frenzy,
Glenister shook the wounded man
cruelty, so that he cried out in terror:
I'm dying-oh, I'm dying" Roy
raised the sick man up and thrust his
own face before his eyes.
'This is Glenister I've come for
Helen-where is sheT A spark Of
recognition fiickered into the dull stare.
you're too late-I'm dying-and I'm
afraid"
His questioner shook Strive again.
where Is she?" he repeated, time
after time, till by very force of his
own insistence he compelled realiza-
ton in the sufferer.
THE Kid took her away. The Kid
shot me-" and then his voice rose till
it flooded the room with terror. THE
Kid shot me, and I'm dying" He
coughed blood to his lips, at which
Roy laid him back and stood up. SO
had arrived too late. This was the
Kids revenge. This was how he
struck. Lacking courage to face a
mans level eyes, he possessed the foul
ness to prey upon woman. Roy felt
a weakening physical sickness sweep
over him till his eye fell upon a sodden
garment which Helen had removed
from her brothers shoulders and re-
placed with dry one. He snatched
it from the floor and in a sudden fury
felt it come apart in his hands like
wet tissue paper.
He found himself out In the rain,
scanning the trampled soil by light of
his lamp, and discerned tracks which
the driZZle had not yet erased. He
reasoned mechanically that the two
riders could have no great start Of him,
so strobe out beyond the house to see
IL they had gone farther into the hills.
There were no tracks here, therefore
they must have doubled back toward
town. 1t did not occur to him that
they might have left the beaten path
and followed down the little creek to
.he river: but, replacing the light
where he had found II, he remounted
and dashed his horse into a stiff canter
up toward the divide that lay between
him and the city. The story was grow
ing palmer TO him, though as yet he
could not piece it all together. Its
possibilities stabbed him with such
horror that he cried out aloud and beat
his steed into faster time with both
hands and feet. To think Of those two
ruffians fighting over this girl as though
she were the spoils of pillage! He
must overtake the Kid-be would! The
possibility that he might not threw
him into such ungovernable mental
chaos that he was forced to calm him
self. Men went mad that way. He
could not think of IL. That gasping
creature In the roadhouse spoke all too
well Of the Bronco's determination.
And yet, who OF those who had known
the Kid in the past would dream that
his vileness was so utter as this?
Away TO the right. hidden among the
Shadowed hills, his friends rested
themselves for the coming battle, wait
Ing impatiently his return and timing
1t to the rising sun. Down in the val
ley 10 his left were the two he follow
ed, while he, obsessed and unreason-
ing, now curslng like mailman, now
grim and silent, spurred southwark to-
ward town and into the ranks of his
enemies