The French Broad hustler. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1896-1912, 1910-02-10
A CHANCE ALLY.
BY FRANKLIN wELLEs cALxINs.

tOPC. ne STSSISQ me Cu66T1lys
The stage-ranch YOU want, eh?T
he said. in answer to my hurried
query. hts down the canon and then
down the river; take you till noon to
get there. LOST" .
Seeing that he looked honest, 1 told
my story briefly. His lace grew elo-
quent ash talked.
Say" he said, 81 believe you're in
luck; just crossed your mans fresh
trail twenty minutes baek-leastwise
so surmise! He's one o. Doc Little
toms gang o. rustlers an road-agents.
He has to cross this canon over the
divide and into the next to get to
Docs ranch up White River; has to
go afoot same's 1 did to rustic my
horses. Got a gum"
Much excited at his information. I
drew a heavy revolver from my great
coat pocket.
"Good!" he exclaimed, and there
was fight written all over him as he
swiftly united his string of horses and
turned them loose. NOW Wen hit
that rustler's trail-he's shore your
man. Wish we had enough white
men round here to blow Docs place
of the earth; ought to have been
done long ago. Now come on"
And With new hope in my heart, 1
followed this energetic ally, who
seemed as blithe for a fight as a game
cockerel. AS we hurried along the
ridge OF his back trail, he told me
that his name was Lawton, that he
lived on the Indian reservation be-
low, and that his ponies had run on
before the wind and taken to this
canon. He had started out before
daylight, as soon as it stopped snow
ing, and afoot because no horse could
carry a man over the river-bottoms
and the cross drifts of the canon.
"I'm what they call a s.uaW-man,"
he added, flashing a smile at me.
my wife shore is q breed, but she
suits me all right"
He explained also that he was TAX
ing his horses up on the plateau, and
would, he thought, be able to ride
home by way of the stage road. All
this as We hurried forward at a dog
trot. Presently we crossed by way of
two spurs to another long ridge, and
here came upon the tracks he had
discovered, plainly to be seen upon
the frosty rims of the hard drifts.
They followed the ridge upward, and
we followed them at as fast q gait as
my tired legs could manage.
In a half-hour of running we came
within EiOhf Of 0T1r W.
him go down OF the plateau a half
mile or so ahead Of us. Apparently
he was unsuspicious of pursuit, for
he gave no glance behind.
remarked to Lawton that the man
was not carrying a valise. -Shucks!"
was his comment. He amt 4 fool"
Ten minutes later we were racing
down a ridge; the man, in a great
coat had shed mine when we left
the ponies-was plodding along three
hundred yards ahead. We were
somewhat carer when the fellow,
doubtless catching the crunch Of our
feet on the drifts. turned sharply
about.
My companion ahead made an ami
cable gesture, as~if we were bent on a
friendly errand; but the fellow threw
of his overcoat with frantic celebrity
and started away at the top of his
speed. 1 could see two big revolvers
banging at his hips, and felt the
amplest assurance that he was the
man who had occupied a seal with me
the day before, the man 1 was after.
1 never could have caught him by
myself. I was too nearly at the limit
OF endurance. But my friend, the
-sQuaw-man," clad lightly, consider
ing the weather, and wearing roug:-
soled m~occasins, sped away from me,
fleet and untired. He gained on the
road-agent from the start.
The rascal quickly saw that he was
being oVerhauled, and in two or three
minutes he ran down upon a ridge
projecting. to the south almost at
right angles to the one We were fol-
lowing.
Instantly I saw his game. OF to
the left, at the end of the spur, and
across a gully, was fighting cover, "a
rough tumble of rock lodges. From
the cover of one of these notcnes he
could stand on two men indefinitely.
Another ridge directly in front OF
me a. into the same gorge, cuttfns