The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1909-07-18

have some friends along. won't break
up the party. They may come. too
What for?"
For stopping a train at Tower w
Saturday night"
The three men looked at one another
and laughed.
Du Sang with an oath spoke again
THE men you want are in Canada by
this time. I can't speak for my friends;
I don't know whether they want to go
or not. As far as am concerned, 1
haven't killed anybody that / know Of.
I suppose youIl pay my expenses
back ~
why. yes. Du sang. if you were COM
ing back 1 would pay your expenses;
but you are not coming back. You are
riding Williams Cache for the last time;
you've ridden down It too many times
already. This roundup is especially for
you. Don't deceive yourself; when you
ride with me out OF the Cache, you won't
come back"
Du Sang laughed, but his blinking
eyes were as steady as a cats. 1t did
not escape Whispering Smiths notice
that the mettiesome horses ridden by the
outlaws were continually working
around to the right of his party. He
spoke amiably to Karg. IF you can't
manage that horse. Karg, / can. Play
fair. 1t looks 70 me as If you and Du
Sang were getting ready 10 run for it,
and leave George Seagrue TO shoot his
way through alone.
Du Sang, with some annoyance, in
tervened: That's all right I'll go with
you. I'd rather see your papers, but if
you're Whispering Smith It's all right.
I'm due to shoot out a little game some
Ill,
way"
Amy time. Du Sang; only don't let
your hand wabbe next time. It's too
close 20 your gun now to pull right"
Wei, told you l was going to come,
didn't II And I'm coming-nowr'
With the last word he whipped out
his gun. There was a crash of bullets
Questioned once by McCloud and re-
preached for taking chances, Whisper
ing Smith answered simply: Il have TO
take chances" he said, "Ail 1 ask is an
even break"
But Kennedy had said there was no
such thing as an even break with Whis-
pering Smith. A few men in genera
ton amuse, battle, and mystify other
men with an art based on the principle
that the action Of the hand is quicker
than the action of the eye. With Whis-
pering Smith the drawing of a revolver
and the art of throwing his shots in
stantly from wherever his hand rested
was pure sleight-Of-hand. To dexter
ity so fatal he added a judgment that
had not failed when confronted with de-
eeit. From the moment that Du Sang
first spoke, Smith, convinced that he
meant to shoot his way through the line,
waited only for the moment to come
When Du Sang's hand moved like a
Hraa IS Ha--a-A
was holding his coal lapels IN his hands,
struck mis- pistol from the scabbard over
his heart and threw a bullet at him be-
fore he could fire, as conjurer throws
vanishing coin into the air. Spur
ring his horse feaFfully as he did SC, he
dashed at Du Sang and Karg, leaped
his horse through their line, and, wheel
ing at arms length, shot again. Bill
Dancing jumped in his saddle, swayed
and toppled to the ground Stormy
German gave a single whoop at the
spectacle and, with his two cowboys at
his heels, fed for life.
More serious than all. Smith found
himself among three fast reyolvers,
working from an unmanag es bic horse.
The beast tried to follow the fleeing
cowboys, and when faced sharply about
showed temper. The trained horses of
the outlaws stood like statues but
Smith had to fight with his horse buck.
ing at every shot. He threw his bullets
as best he could first ever one shoulder
and then the other. and used the last
cartridge in his revolver with Du Sang,
Seagrue and Kark shooting at him
every time they could fire without hit
ting one another.
It was not the first slime the Will
liams Cache gang had sworn to get him,
and worked together to do it, but for
the first time it looked as If they might
do It. A single chance was left to Wits
pering Smith for his life, and with his
coat slashed with bullets he took it. For
an instant his life hung on the success
Of a trick so appallingly awkward that
a clever man might have failed in turn
ing it. If his rifle should play free in
the scabbard as he reached for it, he
could fall to the ground, releasing it as
he plunged from the saddle, and make
fight on his feet. If the rifle failed to
release he was a dead man. To so mar
row an issue are the cleveTest combina-
tons sometimes brought by chance He
dropped his empty revolver, ducked like
a mud-hen on his horses neck, threw
back his leg, and, with all the precision
he could summon, caught the grip OF his
muley In both hands. He made his fall
HedNlly 10 tht SIoundi landing on his
shoulder. But as he keeled from the
saddle the last thing that rolled over the
saddle, like the flash Of a porpoise fin.
was the barrel Of the rifle, secure in his
hands. Karg, on horseback, was al
ready bending over him, revolver in
hand, but the shot was never fired. A
1920 bullet from the ground knocked
the gun into the air and tore every
knuckle from Karg's hand. Du Sang
spurred in from the right 4 rife-slug