The Hattiesburg news. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 1908-1917, 1911-07-05

Si't'i A+sts.s HtiitlfN the YEA
touched him lightly on Ills shouide.
with the zip OF his finger
The iaan jumped as If he had been
stung from force of habit. perhaps.
his ri..hi hand went to his hip It's he
quickly urned and looked up into the
face benz down to his For some
moments the tableau was unchanged
then the stranger said;
"Pa'don me. sub. TO interrupting yo
game. but | should be obleeged if yo'
would tell me If 20 name is Edga'
Lawrence"
Yes, sir" said the man addressed
making an effort to speak in his usual
voice
81 regret, sub. to disturb you. Gentle
men, | trust yo' will excuse me TO- in
terrupting yo' in you amusement, but
| have a difficulty to settle with one
Of you numbe', Captain Lawrence"
Every face at the table was turned
upward; every eye fixed on the speak
err. No such subdued gentleman-like
| tones had ever been heard before in
that sinkhole of iniquity. A Difficult
| ty to settle with Lawrence-Captain
| Lawrence. No one had ever heard of
Lawrence having military title be
| fore. And why didn't Lawrence shoot
him dead? Lawrence's hand was on
his pistol, and the strangers hand
was not near a weapon His close
fitting coat buttoned tight to the throat
showed no bulge where weapon
should be Nevertheless. Lawrence
did not draw his pistol
Being strange among you gentle
men," continued the speaker. 81 would
be Ok aeged to yo' if one of 20 numbe'
would act TO Captain Lawrence and
one fo' me. The sun has not yet set.
and the twilight will be plenty long
enough for us to settle ou' difficulty
befo' da'k"
Every man gaped at the speaker till
one of them broke the spell by rising
and Offering his services to him. Then
| another said to Lawrence:
"come I'd: you'll have to CRAFTY
the &c fsls;, end von'd better not
/ try any Of your games HE'S EVIDENT
ly captivated The boys and II you
shouldn't treat him fair you nigh, get
into trouble. You've done too many
wicked things already"
Lawrence rose without a word He
steadied himself by resting his hand
on the table He was very pale.
whats the matter with your Who
is the old MANI"
"T've never seen him before" was
the only reply.
The six of them walked out of the
saloon and down the road to a patch
of level ground which had been re-
Gently cleared. The sun, blood red
ball, stood near the horizon, casting
fantastic shadows Of all the party
Not a word was spoken by any one
Though the day had been warm, the
air was pervaded by chill All no.
ticed that Lawrence seemed to feel II
especially. for he was shivering.
"What distance do you prefer, sirT'
asked the strangers second of him.
"That. sub. is immaterial. Leave
the terms entirely with Captain Law
renee"
make it what you like" said Law
renee, WHOSE teeth were chattering
much to the surprise of the rest
The seconds measured the ground
for thirty PAGES, then approached the
principals to relieve them Of their
weapons and give them others. The
stranger bowed and said that he had
no weapon: he never went armed
Lawrences pistol was taken froa
MIN. and both he and his antagonis
were given weapons borrowed from
among those present Then they were
stood opposite each other.
1t seemed to those in attendance
that Lawrence was unable to with
stand the gaze of his antagonist The
two men were placed az either end OF
the thirty PAGES. and the man who
was acting for Lawrence stood ready
to drop a handkerchief at which the
principals were to advance, firing Be
fore giving the signal he said:
perhaps one Of you gentlemen
would give up the cause of this diff
Guilty"
He turned to the stranger. who made
no reply His eye rested on his enemy
| The speaker turned to Lawrence and
asked him If he had anything to say
by way of explanation Lawrence
paid no heed to him
"Gentlemon. are you readyY'
There was no reply from either of the
contestants
Fire" and the handkerchief fioated
to the ground
A bullet from Lawrence's pistol went
high in the air. The stranger without
firing. dropped his pistol and STROBE
unarmed toward his antagonist. his
eyes, 6aring like two great stars. fixed
on Lawrence. AS he passed him Law,
renee was heard to laugh. There was
something so uncanny about his laugh,
ter that 1t froZe the blood of those
looking on. The stranger passed right
by his antagonist. Lawrence gave a
shrek and. springing into the air as