The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1910-10-02


street. With rar" cunning the oppus-
ing force in that Giracti0n. one If the
equities aud two of the valUrOu+ vel.
unteers. waited. concealed by beer bag-
seis. until Caliopp had passed Ih@i:
retreat and then perIHtrcd hiar fEnn
the rear III another moment ih"T
were re-enfarrpd by Che ularbat #@d
bis other nfeu. and tbru CaiIope felt
that in order - successfully T"lnnE
the dciZHts Of the co'itfnvcrSA h"
must find some means Of redu"inG The
great odds against him.
Not far away was the IfttI" railroad
station its building strong box
house TO by - feet resting upon Il
platform four feet above greund
Windows were in each Of its wallis
Call;opp made bold and rapid spirit
for it, the marshaIs crowd smoking"
him az he ran. He reached the haven
in safety. the station agent learing the
| building by Il window
Patterson and his supporters halted
under protection Of a pile of lumber
and held consultations. In the station
| was an unterrifed desperate who was
an excellent shot and carried IN
abundance of ammunition. For thirty
yards or each side of the besieged
was stretch of bare open ground.
Standing near was a., hand truck
used in the manipulation of small
freight. 1t stood by shed full of
sacked wool, consignment from ono
of the sheep ranches. On this truck
the marshal and his men piled three
heavy sacks of wool. STOPPING low,
Buck Patterson started for Caliiopes
fort, slowly pushing this loaded truck
before him for protection. The posse
scattering broadly, stood ready to nip
the besieged in case he should show
! himself in an effort to repel the jug
gernaut of justice that was creeping
| upon him Only once did Calliope
| make demonstration. He fred from a
| window. and some tufts of wool squirt
ed from the marshars trustworthy bul
| wark
The marshal was too deeply en-
| crossed in steering his protected bat
tleship to be aware of the approach Of
the morning train until he was within
a few feet of the platform. The train
was coming up on the other side of it..
It stopped only one minute at Quick
sand What an opportunity it would
offer to Calliope. He had only to step
out the other door. mount the train
and away.
Abandoning his breastworks, Buck.
with his gun ready. dashed up the
| steps ana into the room. driving open
| the closed door with one heave of his
weighty shoulder. The members of
the posse heard one shot fired inside.
and then there was silence
At length the wounded man opened
his eyes After a blank space he
again could see and hear and feel and
think. Turning his eyes about, he
| found himself lying on wooden
bench. A tall man with a perplexed
countenance. wearing a big badge
with CITY Marshal engraved upon it..
stood over him. 4 little old woman
pin black, with wrinkled face and
sparkling black eyes. was holding a
wet handkerchief against one of his
temples. He was trying to get these
| facts fixed in his mind and connected
| with past events when the old woman
began to talk.
There now. great. big, strong man.
| That bullet never fetched you-jest
| skeeted along the side of your head
and sort of paralyzed you for a spell.
I've heerd of sech things afore. Con-
eussion is what they names it. Abel
watkins used to kill squirrels that
way arkin' EN-. Abe called it. You
Jest been barked sir. and you'll be
| all right in little bit. Feel lots bet
ter already. don't you? You just lay
still awhile longer and let me battle
your head You don't know me. |
reckon. and faint surprisin that you
| shouldn't | come in on that train
from Alabama to see my son. Big son.
amt be? Lands, you wouldn't hardly
think he'd ever been a baby, would
you? This is my son, sir"
Half turning. the old woman looked
up at the standing man, her worn face
lighting with proud and wonderful
smile. She reached out one veined
and calloused hand and took one of
her sons Then. smiling cheerily down
at the PROSTATE man. she continued to
dip the handkerchief in the waiting
room tin wash basin and gently apply
it to his temple,
81 amt seen my son before she
continued. Tin eight years. One of my
nephews. Elkanah Price. he's q con-
ductor on one of them railroads, and
he got me pass to come out here. !
can stay a whole week on it. and then
it'll take me back ag'in. Jest think,
now. that little boy of mine has got to
be a officer-a city marshal of a whole
town, That's somethin' like a con-
/ stable. amt it? never knowed he
was officer. He didn't say nothin'
about it in his letters. reckon he
thought his old mother ID be skeered
/ abo11t the danger he was in. But.