The Mena weekly star., 1911-09-07
from Last Issue.)
CHAPTER XVI.
Doctor FaIrbain.

,nteoduclng Doctor FaIrbain.
 .,..dsd as they were. and having no
 S1<snecial objective point In view, it
 snly natural for the two fugitives
 ,.jtt into Sheridan This was at that
 GsAhe human cesspool of the plains
 ..sfy. seething, boiling maelstrom
 z .l5 that was rough, evil, and brazen
 Sas the entire frontier Customar-
 aulet enough during the hours of
 Sdeht. the town became mad
 arnaIla with the approach Of dark
 |s< It's ceaseless orgies being noisily
 |nt1nued until dawn But at this
 |.tIbd all track work on the Kansas
 scifc being temporarily suspended T5ndian outbreaks. the graders made sz|k uight and day alike hideous, and
 =5s single dirty street which com [s>sed Sheridan lined with shacks. |EDxded with saloons. the dull dead =zsirie stretching away on every side = he horizon, was congested with |Issanlty during every hour of the @xtDtyfour
 H was grim picture of depravity is3 desolatlon. the environment dull, |rbomy, forlorn; all that was worthy |ff eye or thought being the pulsing |1gnan element. All about extended '(f barren plains, except where on eae side ravine cut through an over Ealglng ridge From the seething zHeet one could look up to the sum VI and see there the graves Of the 1zny who had died deaths of violence. |5d been borne thither in their 4pts" Amid all this surrounding Isolation was Sheridan---the child of Blew brief months of existence, and Ilstined to perish almost as quickly |@ center of the grim picture. a mere hster of rude. unpainted houses. lporly erected shacks. grimy tents Ripping In the never ceasing wind &irllng across the treeless waste, the BY red station. the rough cowpens Red with lowing cattle. the huge. un. alnly stores, their false fronts deco 1 4ted by amateur wielders of the klnt brush. and the garish dens of | Ice tucked in everywhere. The pen plum of life never ceased swinging. oclety was mixed; no man cared who Is neighbor was, or dared to question. I women worthy the name there ere few. yet there were fitting fe- ale forms in plenty. the saloon lights 'yeallng powdered cheeks ana paint eyebrows. It was 8 strange, rest ss populace, the majority here to- ay, disappearing tomorrow-cow- 'ys, half breeds, trackmen, graders, 'speradoes, gamblers, saloon n-keepers, erchants, generally Jewish, petty of 'als, and rif-rar no one could ac- unt for. mere floating debris. The wn was an eddy catching odd bits drlftwood such as only the frontier CT knew. Queer characters were anywhere, wrecks of dissipation. de licts of the East. seeking nothing ya oblivion.
 was passion d pleasure ruled. To spend easily ide money noisily. brszenly, was the sal From dawn to dawn the search Ter joy continued. The bagnios and nee halls were ablaze; the bar, oms crowded with hilarious ot arr humanity, the gamDlins 'ies atise with excitement. Men aggered along the streets looking trouble. and generally finding it; "boys rode into open saloon doors d drank in the saddle; troops of ngenial spirits. frenzied with liquor. lrred recklessly through the stree: Ing into the air, or the crowd, as 'lr whim led; bands played popular s on balconies. and innumerabi. arkers" added their honeyed invi- Ions to the perpetual din. From end end 1t was a ssturnalia of vice. a Oei of sound. 8 glimpse of the in no. Money flowed like water; every Ih was his own law. and the gun arbiter of destiny. The town Irsnal, and few cool-headed depu- moved here and there amid the aos, patient, tireless, undaunted, 'Nng merely to exercise some sht restraint. Tl.s was Sheridan. hto the one long street just at dusk le Keith and Neb. the third horse llihg behind. Already lights were to gleam in the crowded cons, and they were obliged to 'ceed slowly. Leaving the negro at corral to find some purchaser for animals, and such accommoda- lis Tor himself as he could achieve, nun shouldered his way on foot 'ongh the Heterogeneous mass to- I'd the only hotel. long two-storied ooen structure. unpainted, fronting siitter of the Pinoeer Dance Hall posite. A noisy band was splitting ar With discordant notes. loud Iced barker" yelling through the roar, but Keith. accustomed to simi-
 scenes and sounds elsewhere. que through the open door of the 'ei' and guided by the noisy. contin- as ciatter of dishes. easily found his y 10 the dining room. II was crowd --n n.r1 few women scattered