Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1914-01-31

pallid against the gloom, staring until
she got on my nerves. 1 always dis
liked that woman with her precise
routine and large fat feet.
Far off 1 heard the thud of a gun
shot, then three shots all together, and
afterward a fifth. The evil in the
night was coming nearer. and 1 said
to myself. IF 1 were really frightened
1 should close that DOOR I'm half
coward
The hero himself had strung his Vic
toria Cross upon a riband which 1
wore about my neck Could 1 wear
the cross and set an example of cow
ardice to these poor creatures who
crouched in the corners of the room?
to show fear is a privilege of the un-
derbred. But did long for Jesse.
Through the murmurs of the nearer
rain, felt a throb in the ground, then
heard a sound grow, of a horse gal
Looping. The swift soft rhythm, now
loud, now very faint, then very near
echoed against the barns, Numbered
across the bridge, splashed through
the flooded yard, and ceased abruptly.
Billy had come home from the Falls,
he was stabling his roam, he was cross
ing the yard in haste, his spurs clank-
ed at the doorstep and, dreading his
news. a sudden panic seized me. /
fed behind the bar
He entered, astream with rain. shad-
ing his eyes against The candle-hght;
then as 1 moved he called out, as
| though l were at a distance, begging
me for brandy. His face was haggard.
his hand as he drank was covered
with dried blood, he slammed the
glass on the counter so that it broke.
he oh ho
\ AT Spite House?" 1 whispered.
He nodded.
You were there?" 1 asked.
Half a mile beyond. When 1 got
| there it was all dark. Looked in
| through the end window, but the rain
| got down my neck, so / went round
| The front door was standing open L
listened while. No need to get shot
myself. Thought the place was
derelict Then I heard groans.
| "Struck a bunch of matches then,
found the hall lamp, and got it alight
Wished I'd got a gun, but there wasn't
nothing handy except the poker. so 1
took that and the light-just followed
the groans. He was lying on the bar
room floor
| 'Brooke?''
Yes Shot through the throat.
/
! neck, making a big pool on the oil
cloth You know the thing you make
with a stick and a scarf to twist up?
| A tourniquet, yes. Well, it choked the
! swine, so l quit He whispered some
thing about my thumb hurting the
wound. so l told him my fathers neck
hurt worse.
up to that I thought he was just
acting, playing pathetic to touch my
| feelings Once he muttered your
name. and then he was dead"
Brooke dead,''
Yes. he'd been shooting Polly, too.
1 traced her blood tracks all the way
to the front door. Hello. what's that
l thought l heard
| l listened and there was only the
sound of the rain
Il suppose it's all right" said Billy,
we'd better close that door, though"
But before he could reach the door,
Nurse Panton called him away to her
corner. where she spoke in a whisper
so that l should not hear, sending
him, perhaps, for her cloak Mean
while I came from behind the counter
TO my former seat before the open
doorway, where l sat staring into the
darkness, unable to feel any more, but
just benumbed. Across my WEAKNESS
fiickere6 the mournful soliloquy of a
Il poor barn-door fowl-"Y esterday an
egg, tomorrow a feather duster,
What's the good of anytin'. why
nothin''
Then I, too, heard a sound in the
night. and because Billy and the nurse
were muttering, 1 stood up with the
candle-light behind me, trying to see
in the darkness. Billy said afterward
he had moved quickly. to shut the
door, but I waved him back Just as the
shot rang out
The explosion blinded, deafened
seemed even to scorch me, while the
mirror on the wall came crashins
down Stunned, dazzled, Mortified.
felt dull rage at this attempted
murder
A second revolver-shot stirred my
hair, and I'm afraid then that L los
my temper. 1 am not fish-fag that
should stoop to fighting q creature
such as Polly, but 1 would have dieC
! rather than let her see one trace O
fear.
| Billy rushed past the firing to reaci
the door and close it. but ordered hin
: to desist, then grasped the candle AMI
: held it out to show a better light
t Lower your lights" l shouted int
: dark, you fired too hight
r 4 revolver crashed on the doorstep
2 and low down within three feet of tn,