The French Broad hustler. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1896-1912, 1910-09-01

no. he said: gave hnaIity
| I'm NOT going with you. ny friend
The hands dealt; I'll play 1t out"
For Gods sake. GeneT' imploret
Bunce. Then got to quit you. Yos
know what this means to me, he add
ed despairingly. 81 hate to go. bu
there's no sense In my stayin'."
mo. And / thank you for stayins
as long as you have" interrupted Kir
by, with smile. rising and placing his
hand on the others shoulder. .I'n
afraid haven't been thinking very
/ much OF you, old partner But I'm go
ing to stay-caII 1t what You like
However, this is not your hand, Lar
kin. and / don't want You to help me-
play 1t out. Go, by all means. and al
once. Did you get a fresh horse9'
"A fresh horse? Why. / wouldn'i
even burst to ask for the one / come
on" cried Bunce. hopping his face
'sYou don't seem to rightly size up the
mess we're in. Gene. I'll be. lucky to
git out on my own two feet. L dond
even know where they put my hat
and I'm skeered to ask for it. Then /,
amt no more use my askin' you to
conner ~ seasf
+ NO more use than in your staying. .
said Kirby. .tau;t :, s...ssrres
Bunce hesitated for a moment, then
thrust out his huge hand.
'sGoodby. you burned fooiE' he gasp
ed, choking up. tzls3 -
"Goodby, Larkin, but don't bet that
It Is geodby. They WON'T get me. I'll
ride your horse into town for you to
morrow" FIFgr 9ffce3fff I'D =
I Bunce bestowed a Anal helpless ap-
peal upon the ceiling, gave his part
ners hand farewell wrench then
Numbered. hastily from. the room. while
Kirby, hummIhg softly to himself
strolled to, the open window and, lean
ing negIigently against its frame, gave
himself up to retrospect
He wanted to be alone; he wanted to
think, to; dream. to go over and over
again every word that Adele had spo-
ken. every smile, every gesture His
thoughts were solely Of the Immediate
present and past. For the future he
did not care neither Tom RandalPs
Homecoming nor his own inevitable
nnmasking.. He wondered what he
would have been, what the end would
have been, had his. early life been laid
in pleasanter ltnes-less harsh, less
lonely. Yes, utter loneliness was a
great and sinister factor in holding
mans destiny. What If the last Of the
Kirbys had proved an honor to the
old name, instead of professional
river gambler! And why was he re-
naming? Was not the .allegory Of
the rosebush too bitterly true2 Why
had Adele said those last words: "But
mightn't it be perhaps with one wo-
man he couldn't be beaten, even then p
Yes. it might be. and it would be,
and the truth of it had been proved
since the beginning Of time. But. even
if she were willing and knew him for
what he was. could he rightly ask the
sacrifice? Yet those words had awak-
ened a fierce longing, had held out a
promise OF hope. And he could not
utterly renounce. not just yet Per
haps-
He turned as a hand tugged at his
sleeve, turned to confront old Group,
who had stolen hoiselessly TO his side.
''Marse Gene. To- Gawd;s sake look
outw whispered Group. hts face gray
with anxiety, his voice trembling with
suppressed excitement ATS feared it's
too late To- yo' to git away. Marse
Anatole done ride out de stable LAX
hes crazy, an If yo' listen to de quiet
out yonneh yo' kind hear bosses
a-comin' down de big. road, an dey
comm on de gallop. Marse Gene. Old
Group mighty skeered fo' yo', honey"
kirby turned an attentive ear to-
ward the softly stealing south wind
that harbinger of danger Yes, the
hoof beats were now insistently audi
bic, drawing nearer and nearer with
every passing second. More than one
horse. too-say a dozen. If he was any
judge,
'fThank you for the warning, Group"
he said quietly, preserving his attitude
of idle indifference as if discussing
the most trivial commonplace. 81
quite agree with you that 1t is too
late to think Of escape"