Pierre weekly free press. (Pierre, S.D.) 1889-19??, 1914-05-21

depend on you. If they can be saved
It will be you!"
Curran looked about. Some notion
that Harlan was doggedly suffering
under the overt gibes Of the specta-
tors at the safe distance-the mob who
Knew nothing of the exigencies of the
to him. Some idea that
the day would be crucial for the
younger man, If he flinched unde the
responsibility.
I'll 60" he answered, and for the
hrst time since his w tragedy began.
a trace of the old friendly smile came
TO his lips. At the fence he called
back: And If he does not Gomez"
THE law will have 20 take its course.
! promise nothing!"
Curran drew a white handkerchief
from ms pocket as he crossed the field.
He vas vaguely aware that Arne
Vance's machine had turned down the
creek o back to town. But keener
still was the impression that the thou
sands of eyes were watching him.
Presently he heard a murmur among
tn deputies, taken up, growing, spread
ing to the masses of people away be-
You'd. He did not look back. They
knew him. they would recognize him,
the %recreant, the fallen man Of the
county who would have been their
leader. Even when a struggling shout
went up. he did not turn; it rang with
a Wild hysterical note, primal with hos
tilfty it seemed to Curran. Then the
watchers saw him each the house,
pause at the door, M be admitted.
The throng began to murder again,
and shift. But many stared silently at
not fired at "Curran of the News.
They began to mutter and argue ex-
plantations. The correspondents went
off to put more stuff on the wire
about this turn Of affairs. And after
10 minutes. that seemed an hour, they
saw Wiley Curran come out of the
house. He seemed pleading; and they
And presently, Curran came on. He
crossed the field in a great silence.
Even the nearer people did not crowd
up to listen when he reached Harlan
sitting on his horse on the creek road.
Curran spoke quietly, vet it seemed his
voice reached them all, SO acute this
stiffness.
He will not surrender. 1 pleaded
every point. Told him that LATE Mason
offered to defend him. That he'd have
a fair trial. That our people We're peo-
pie of the law-they would give him
Justice. l begged for his wife and chill
dren. But he told his old story. The
land was his. No man could put foot
on it 1ntil he was paid. He told his
jail-it made him what he was. Never
again would he face mans Justice
God was the supreme judge-and not
Van Hart"
Van Harris son was pale. There
seemed challenge n Indictment in he
tighter. We'll, We'll take him."
'Harlan-in Gods name-those chill
dren!"
He had his choice"
Wait" Curran stepped nearer,
faced as if to the others.
Harlan turned in the saddle. He
lifted his hand solemnly. mo more.
The people! Ask them, Wiley!"
Curran glanced back, an impulse to
make a last passionate cutlery to m
thing. he knew not what. But the peo-
ple-the Midlanders, indomitable, con-
tanned, %unfearing the 1nal issues of
nothing. Their land, their law-their
Saxon strength had won and made it
through bloody centuries. The man
standing alone seemed to read their
will. File checked his cry. What would
it be hut the cry Of a broken a q
discredited leader?-himself without
place anon them? They had not
spoken now at the crisis-they had
approved by this silence. Curran
bowed his head in a sorrow that only
the light Of heart may know.
Then, with a swift remembrance, he
stretched his hands to Harlan.
For Gods sake. boy! Wait
Aurelie is coming! And you love her,
Harlan!"
But the other man had galloped
down the road, speaking to a group
here and there. The deputies sprang
up in a struggling line. Some one up
in the quarry face fired a shot, and a
shout rang from the father woods. The
man by the fence watched them silent
". He turned to look at the people.
9hey, too, were still, steadfast; alb
sorbed as if, from a mighty arena,
under the gra stare of the sky, they,
the rulers, the arbiters, watched a
dramatic conflict of eternal forces
which would destroy what they or
dained to destroy, and save what they
ordained to be saved. That was the
communal law, the social compact. He
who set himself against it would per-
ish. Curran felt its inexorableness-he
too, had defied it--and it had bided its
time to destroy him.