Mountain Home maverick. [volume] (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1906-1911, 1909-11-25
CHAPTER XIV.

VA RUISED and dazed. aching all /
over and very weak. Brooks I
O picked himself up and made
his way to the street. He had /
now reached the extreme of hopeless
ness and desperation. Everybody. the /
whole world. was against him, except |
Jimsy Smith. and he could do nothing
for him. The only being who had
loved him had shrunk from him with
dread. refused him the sacrament of a
last kiss, besought in charity.
He hardly knew how he got there.
but he reached home without molesta-
ton and mounted by the stairway I'M
perceived to his room. Once inside he
locked the door and turned on the
light. 1t was at least gratefully warm
there, and he was at last safe from
the clutches of the law. Escape lay at
his hand In a moment all would be
over.
Nothing had been disturbed during
his absence. The revolver was still in
the drawer where he had left it, He
took it and, gazing at himself in the
bureau glass. raised the frearm to his
right temple He was appalled, as he
looked at the CHASTITY, haggard face
before him and the eyes, fear haunt
ed. that stared out Of their dark and
deeply sunken rims like the optics of
an owl. The revolver shook in his
numbed hand. and he could scarce
bend his finger on the trigger.
What was his hurry? Why not wait
until he had warmed his hand and
make the deed surer? If the police
came for him death was at his beck
and would cheat them at an instants
notice. His craven spirit inspired him
with the desire to live little longer.
He laid the revolver on the table
and rubbed his hands to set the blood
circulating. Then he held them over
the heat radiator He remembered
that In the clothes closet was a full
bottle of whisky. The stuff would
soon warm him. He took off his over
coat to hang it up in the closet and
felt In a pocket for his handkerchief.
His hand encountered the roll of bills
Smith had slipped in there. For a mo-
ment a CLEAN Of hope flashed its cheer
Ing ray as he contemplated the money.
Here was enough to enable him to get
away.
But his dependency refused the
comfort. What was the user To at
tempt escape now would be to fall into
the hands Of the police sleuths who
must be on the lookout for him. He
surmised that the weather had driven
the watchers to take shelter and had
enabled him to slip into the house I'M
noticed or unrecognized No, he had
done with life and all its worries and
disappointments. Better death than
the consequences Of living. He would
have to die at some time or other any
how.
He poured out a large glass OF
whisky and swallowed it. The fiery
stuff. warmed him all over. He sat
down to think, and his thoughts took
the shape of a review OF his life. He
had never been any good to himself
or anybody else-never. Brought up
by a maiden aunt, who had taken him
in when as a young boy he had lost
his widowed mother, he had repaid
her with waywardness and indiffer-
ence. In the declining years of her
life when she needed aid and he was
young man he had kept his earnings
selhshly for himself, doing out to her
few dollars at irregular intervals,
and he was glad when she had ceased
to be a burden by dying in a hospital.
He had played his cards well. ingra-
tiated himself into the favor of Mr..
Harris, his employer. and by good act
ing had won the love of Emma. This
had been the great coup OF his career.
but it had availed him little. Fortune.
after smiling at him. had turned her
back, and life had been a failure ever
since.
AS he summed It all up and contem-
plated himself as a pariah, a hunted
man at bay amid the wreck of hope,
love, life itself, driven to the alterna-
tive of criminals cell or self destruc-
ton, as he brooded over the way In
which he had been spurned and cast
out by those who might have loved
and honored him, tears rolled from
his eyes again.
'sYes." he groaned. repeating Emma's
words, yes. have been paid in full,
and have paid in full"
Then he grasped the revolver and
faced himself at the mirror again.
This time his fingers were warm and
supple. Once more he raised it to his
temple. Once more pale fear obtained
the ascendency.
There was plenty OF time. Why.
since he was to die that night, should
he be in such a hurry? Men who
were dying or who were about to be
speeded into eternity for transgres
sion Of the commandment that placed
ban on murder generally prayed. OF
prayers were said for them. He had
not prayed since he could remember