The Holbrook news., 1910-05-06
Two Strange
 Companions
r5e-oS-zz5sS@ssszS=sSsSSS
S++++-

Looking back upon it now, it seems
 that l must have hated Harvey Dar-
 rinston, the essence of him, the thing
 in the abstract which he embodied in
 the concrete and tangible, longer than
 the span of my own life. For the in
 stant when the image of him first i'm
 pressed its indelible outlines upon my
 retina, l saw danger, it cautioned me
 with a shrewdness as new to my na-
 ture as the hate itself. The hate with
 in me must have been a thing of cun-
 ming
 As I took his extended hand, the puny fragility of the thing was smoth-
 cred in my clasp. I closed my grip
 upon it, and the man winced as the
 bones crunched together under the
 pressure. l heard his teeth click as he restrained cry of pain, and from his little cold gray eyes he darted at me a look which unveiled his soul to my sight for an instant and showed to me the venom of the snake for the heel that presses upon its head. So swift had been our exchange of hostile glances that no one had noticed. The next instant he was smiling and 1 was smiling, but we, the two of us, knew and understood that our natures were in opposition, and that the innate aver sion within us marked us for the prin- cipals in a struggle not to be ended until the one of us had seen the other down.
 A Chicago firm intended the pur- chase of some thousands of acres of land for the exclusive raising of sheep, and l was informed that Harvey Dar- rington was looking over the large Dawson ranch for this express pur- pose. The old man, Jim Dawson, com missicned me with the task of show Ling off the ranch to Darlington, being well acquainted with the whole coun- try, and also because of some previ- ous experience with sheep in Texas
 We were peculiar and strange com rades, the embodiment of two spirits which were at war. My position was galling; to live with this man whom I had met only to hate, to ride with him the long hours of the day, with the knowledge of him ever at my side, urg- ing and prompting me, with twitch- ing of the fingers, to throw myself upcn him and to grasp his throat Ah, that smile of his, with the devil be- hind it, that careful, pleasant, interest ed smile, how l hated it. I still must wear one as false and deceitful. It was our game, the game of two de- mons with murder in their hearts, who smiled. smiled always, and tested, dis cussed, related, even argued, with the enthusiasm and spirit of relatives. It was the way we chose to play our game. What did it matter that there was no other to see? Encircling this game of ours was a refinement which came to be silently understood as a kind of armed truce between us which disapproved of the actual brutality of physical conflict and made it a battle Of wills rather than of brawn and bod fly strength. For my part. I could have killed him a number of times, but what I desired was to see his smile fade, his will break, his spirit droop. Then only would my hate be satisfied
 As the days added themselves to- gether. each one placing us at a great CT number of miles from the ranch house and bringing us closer to the thin fringe of cacti where the swell of the grass plain drops away into the first sand areas of the desert, a scheme evolved itself within my mind where by my purpose might be accomplished in a manner which seemed to me at l once satisfying and skillful. We made camp within a mile of its fringe upon the last night before I knew we should reach the edge of the desert. The next morning in arranging my saddle blan- ket. I inserted between the light blan- ket and the heavy saddle a number of burs, common to the part of the plains and strangely irritating to horsef1esh. The bur stickers or barbs are forced through the blanket into the flesh be- heath by the pressure of the saddle. Darlington was already in the saddle waiting for me when I mounted This I had planned. As my weight settled l into the saddle the horse suddenly threw up his head and leaped straight into the air, coming down with stiff | legs planted in bunch. He lowered | his head and threw his heels into the air until his body was almost perpen- dicular, pitching dreadfully. He | squirmed, bucked, reared, danced, | threw himself into the air again with | a sharp turn to the right which nearly | did for me and made me claw leather. | Then. without moments warning, he was away. 1 turned my head to mo- tioD Darlington to follow. He was l