The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1913-09-19

VI 8OAAOs . 00AAsA0ASAAO oUDS ~
not bent upon him. however, the boys
expression changed. There was In It
self control, craft, hate.
"See here, sonny" said the man be-
side him. II am that Gallagher, and
u want you to understand that II you
try to play any pranks on me I'll
chaw you up as l would q worm
The youth looked up at the despera-
do with an affected surprise that might
have deceived Satan himself.
Good Lord, you don't mean ity'
Eyes, l do mean 1t. I'm Gallagher,
the man hat there's a reward offered
for. A reward! The only reward any
one will get for tacklin' me is a bull
let"
Are you the man that killed Cy
Allen?"
"Yes."
"And Burt Holmes?"
Eyes, and a lot more of 'em. But
how did you hear Of these ightsT
"Oh, everybody round here has
heard of 'em. You better look out for
Burt Holmes widow. I heard
The boy shut himself up suddenly.
"Well, what have you heardT"
~ suppose l oughtn't to tell"
"You will tell" and the man held q
cooked revolver near the lads temple.
"She's got three men on your track.
They're goin' to surprise you, comm
on to you from different points,"
"Well, 60 on; tell all you know"
II don't know any more-I swear l
don't"
Eyes, you do" And Gallagher gave
the boy a cuff. He was about to 70
peat 1t when the boy cried:
Don't! I'll tellw
"Wen, tell, then"
They're watchin' you now. They
know just where you are. They're
soin' to shoot you from behind trees
when you 60 through some bit Of tim
her,"
Gallagher looked at the boy suspi-
ciously. 1t did not see likely that
he should know these things. The
desperate didn't believe that there
was q word Of truth in what he said,
but that he had been frightened into
~confessing q falsehood in fear of an
other cu1 or something worse. But
when q man has had warning Of q
plot against his life he Is not likely to
ignore 1t. .
"How did you get wind of all this?"
The boys explanation was not at all
satisfactory. He stammered through
two or three stories, all disconnected.
and at last broke down and confessed
that he had heard only what he had
INST said-that Mrs. Holmes had hired
three. men to come on him from diff
ferent points and Kill him. Gallagher,
seeing that nothing was to be gained
by browbeating, sdesisted, making up
his mind that the boy was like any
other boy and his story only worthy
Of attention so far az what he had
stuck to was concerned.
But the story had its effect Of him.
He never entered a wood that he did
not hold q cooked revolver In each
hand and peer ahead Of him, darling
his eyes in every direction. Presently
when they were approaching q sharp
turn in the road the boy said:
II reckon IL l were you I'd git out
and make this turn through those sap
Inns"
"Why?"
well, it's a mighty good place for
any one to make an ambush"
A hidden enemy even In imagine
I 49, a. -nn~N mt IN nNont nnA th0n ON
open enemy In the iesh. Gallagher
knew he was giving way without due
cause, but he had been 20 reckless in
his killings that he had begun to
fear retaliation and was ready to see
an enemy behind every bush. Pulling
Up and handing the reins to the boy.
he alighted, telling him to drive ON.
He had walked q few yards In adj
vance Of the wagon when he heard an
ominious click behind him and q boy
ish voice say:
Hands up!'
He turned to see a wonderful change
in his companion. He had dropped the
reins, and in each hand resting on the
dashboard, behind which he crouched.
he held a revolver. It did not occur to
the man to obey such an order from
q boy. he was simply looking in won
der.
Hands up!" was repeated In q shrill
tone, and at. the same time q bullet
sang within an inch of his ear. There
was something in the ping that NOV
ed the hands mp mechanically. - the
limbs Of a jumping Jack are moved by
pulling q string.
do you know who I em1' asked the
boy.
mo"
"I'm Betsy Holmes - Bert Holmes'
widow"
Gallagher had looked Into eyes behind
weapons before, but never had he seen
death more surely depicted than now,
The chances were against him, but Il
must take them. he had . chance e
got OF with q wound. and before I
second shot could be nrod. or ut least