The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1909-08-18

growed as pale as a corpse, throwed
her arms up in a wild, crazy way and
started to rush out of the room. One
! of the men-the one she had been
looking at-grabbed her by the arm
savagely, and his voice sounded like
the hiss of a rattlesnake.
" I have found you!' said he. And
now, Elizabeth Osgood. I will have
my revenge! False wife! heartless
mother! you shall dien
"He drew a pistol and pointed 1t at
her head.
yates sprang upon him fiercely,
but the woman laid her white hand
| on his arm and held him quiet while
| she spoke to the stranger.
John Osgood, said she, in a cold,
hard tone, that made my aching bones
shake with terror, I an no wife Of
yours! You won me by a liei You
| told me that Tom was false-was
married to another-and I, fool that
I was, believed the words Of a tongue
which had never spoken anything but
lies. And out of pique I married you!
You knew I hated you, for did I not
tell you so? Afterward Tom came!
I loved him! In heavens sight I
was his wife-what did I care how
the world thought? 1 fed with him
to this wild solitude, and I will eve
leave him! You may kill him If you
like-my corpse you can carry with
you-but my living body-never!'
How her eyes sparkled, and her
cheeks famed with crimson! She
looked like a giantess, but she was a
little woman, and as she stood there
in her rage, her shining brown head
would not have reached above my
shoulder. For a moment Osgood
fell back, and I thought he was going
to back out, but the next instant he
sprang forward. Yates closed with
him. There was a dreadful struggle.
Both used knives, and the blood was
red all over the floor.
81 groaned and tcussed because I
was obliged to lay there and not lift
a finger, and the other man was hold
ing the woman. Yates was getting
the better of Osgood, for he vas a
strong wiry man, and he had a tenn
per like a tiger. Osgood realized it,
so did the other stranger.
course him! shoot him, Osgood,
and have done with it, cried he.
There was a sharp click of a pis-
tol, and the sound of the shot almost
together, and Yates fell over in a
heap on the floor. I knowed he was
done for, and I shrieked like a fend
my rage at being so helpless.
"I am finished, Lizzle,' said the
poor Teller. Goodbye, darling
good-bye!'
"She broke away from the man
who held her, and flung herself on
the dying Yates. I heard her words
distinctly.
"'Kill me, Toni she cried.
Quick, before he seizes me again!
Your pistol-where is it? Here is
my heart! Oh, Tom! Tom! thank
heaven, we shall die together!'
Then the sharp report of a pistol
shattered the air. I saw the smoke
cloud for a moment Yates and his
love, then his arms were wound round
her and hers round him, and they
were dead. Stranger, rhumatiz waa
powerless to keep me there any long.
er. I leaped to my feet and out into
the night 1 went, rousing the miners
from their beds and stirring them up
to vengeance.
ALREADY Osgood and his friend
were mounting their horses, but they
never stirred ten steps from that
ranch up yonder.
I'm them days we didn't wait for
no judges nor juries. Before two
hours had gone by we had Osgood
snugly buried under the pile Of rocks
l showed We, and t'other chap had
been sot adrift as naked as he cum
into the world, and as good a coat Of
tar on him as could be spread. The
feathers we had to leave out, because
we had none.
"I reckon some folks'll say that o.
good had a right to claim his wife,
but we fellers didn't think so, under
the circumstances, and besides, our
blood was up, and there's no knowing
what a miner'll do when that's the
case.
EYES,. stranger, the ranch Is
haunted, and I couldn't drive them
leaders of mine past there after dark
if I was to whip 'em till they dropped.
Hoses is nigh about human, stran-
ger, and some of 'em a leetle beyond
that. Whoa, Digby! Study now,