The Ekalaka eagle. [volume] (Ekalaka, Mont.) 1909-1920, 1913-01-03

only the other day in a dust storm
away back near Darling. as bad a one
as ever l was out in. l was pushed
and done for, gave it up and said my
prayers, Then I practically died in
my tracks and came to life in a sunny
clearing later in the day. The storm
was over. Two coves had found me
and carried me to their camp. and as
soon as | saw them l spotted one for
HOWE and the other for Stingaree.'
and how long were you there:"
about a week."
What happened them"
The whim driver paused in doubt re-
newed.
You will never guess"
Tell me-
"They waited for the next dust storm
and then cast me adrift in that"
Oswald stared. He would never have
guessed indeed. The unhealthy light
faded from his sallow face. Even his
morbid enthusiasm was damped.
You must have done something to
deserve it, he cried at last.
Il did, was the reply, with hanging
head. IL tried to AXE him.
Take your OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES him
prisoner?"
Yes: the man who saved my life"
Melvin sat staring. 1t was a stare
OF honestly i%ncredulous disgust. Then
he spranS to his feet. a brighter youth
than ever, his depression melted like a
cloud. His villaiEOus hero was a
heroic villain after all. His heart Of
hearts. which was not black, could
still render homage to Stingaree.
1t was certainly a battered and hang
dog figure that stole away into the
bush. Yet Inc creature Strengthened
as he strobe into starlight undetiled by
earthly illumination. His palsy left
him. Presently as he went he began
lingering the new melodeon in the way
or a man who need not have sought
elementary instruction from Oswald
Melvin. And now a shining disk filled
II unwashed eye.
S%tinGaree lay a part of that night
beside the milk white mare that he
had left tethcred in a box clump quite
near the town. At sunrise he knelt
and shave on the margin of a gov
eminent tank Def re breaking the mir
ror by %plunging in. And before the
next stars paled he was snugly back
in older haunts, none knowing - his
descent upon those of men.
There or whereabouts, hidden like the
needle "a the hay and yet ubiquitous
in the stack, the hushranger remained
for months, Then there wa. n en-
counter, not the first of this ,eriod,
but the first in which shots were ex-
changed. One of these pierced the
lungs of his melodeon-an instrument
musical boz before it-a still greater
treasure to Stingarce. That was near
the full OF a certain summer moon. 1t
was barely waning to the eye when
the battered buyer of meioleons came
for q new one to the shop in the pretty
bush
The shop was closed for the NIGHT.
but Stingaree knocked at a lighted
window under the veralda. which Mrs.
Melvin presently threw up Her eve
flashed when she recognized one
against whom she now hArhorcd "A bit
terneSs on quite a different plane of
feeling from her former repu!Sion.
Even to his first glance Sh" looked an
Older and Il harder
Il am sorry to see you,' she said.
with "A soft vehemence plainly foreign
to herself. II almost hate the sight of
YOU. You have beer the ruin If my SON.
His RUM
%Slinyaree forgot the speech of the
unlettcrrd stOckman. but his cry was
too short to do worse than warn him.
Come round" continued Mrs. Mel
vim %austerely. II will soc You. You
shall hear what you have done"
)! In another minute he was in the par