Pierre weekly free press. (Pierre, S.D.) 1889-19??, 1914-05-28
old Michigan raised a cry did Janet

50
old Michigan raised a cry did Janet
turn to see the pen door behind her
Thirty feet ava Aurelie vas rum
ming. She had thrown her furs from
her. scattering the roses mons the
frozen clods. and was flying onward to
her old home 200 yards across the field.
Inc deputies We're shouting. Arne saw
her now. He turned to follow. Janet
sprang out, a cry on her lips. Old
Michigan uprose. calling his ~pleadings.
Janet stopped. There was nothing
she could do. The panorama was spread
before her like a moving picture: the
bleak corn-stubbled field, the gray little
house detached in the winter sunlight.
a film OF smoke over it's gable; and on
all three sides Of 1t a struggling line Of
men advancing, firing here and there,
yelling insanely. loading to fire again.
The spatter Of shots t~hickened: 1t be-
came a volley; the blue smoke hid the
farther fence. the masses of people far
beyond under the leafless trees. From
the gable Of Lindstrom's house came a
single report, sharp from it's
A man of the line went down.
She saw Harlan coming with the
posse from the other side. Her broth
er was running faster. but Aurelie was
far beyond him flying on with her old
woodland litheness. Then another fig
ure caught Janet's eye. Wiley Curran
mad leaped the fence from among the
deputies and had outstripped them. He
was shouting; and the angle of his
course Would cut Aurelie off from the
mouse. Janet cried out to him. She
saw the men beyond the house. I'M
der Harlan's orders, stopping to Are
cody, deliberately. at the window from
which Lindstrom was Kidding the dep
uties.
Then came the crash Of a volley loud
er than all else. And she, saw her broth
the veil Of smoke. He was staring at
a patch OF color. maroon and %glistening
black plumes. against the gray of the
guns and the wintry woods.
In the moments intermission fol-
lowing the volley they saw a man step
from the door-a tall. grim gune, stag
gering In the acrtd haze of the powder
smoke and then coming on alone up
right. majestic.
Aurelie was flying to him. The put
law did not stop-she flung herself
agains thin. clasping him, looking up;
and John merely put his stub Of an
arm about the girl. holding her close,
Winchester swinging up to his other
shoulder as he. strobe.
He fired squarely into the line of his
advancing enemies. A man dropped; he
fred again. again. again. cool, sure.
merclless, the mutter of a prayer upon
his lips. the %pleadings Of the girl with
IN his ears. But he would not stop.
The God who ruled above mans petty
justice was with him; he had come
forth to save his wife and children from
the hurricane of bullets slivering his
home. but he yielded nothing.
The girl. clinging to him. was trying
TO reach his neck. seeking to draw him
tn kfdC h1a cro IN 1S--Y L-.1- "a
his left arm swing the rifle down until
he was clasping Aurelie, listening 10
her. move by her. Then. from the
groups Of men about the cottage, who
could not see what those on this side
could. came the crash Of another
volley. From the fence Janet saw Cur
ran running on, reaching o1t his hand,
and then stopping to stare through the
t~h1ckentng smoke about the cottage.
Janet knew a great silence had come.
Van Harris line of men had stopped.
They were staring-all the hundreds
OF people were staring. Janet knew
DEPUTIES behind him. And that Aurelie
had fallen not 20 yards from her old
home. The roses she had clung to as
she ran lay red n scattered about her
on the frozen clods. Curran was kneel-
ing by her. And the silence held as If
earth n sky-the gray lonely land
with a CLINT OF sun through the clouds
had hushed to hear. had followed to
hold the agony that broke from Cur
rams heart.
When Janet and Arne reached them.
Curran had turned Aurelie's face up-
ward. Curran himself was bloody from
q tassel Of a wound orr across his
forehead. Men we're in and about
the bullet-swept and burning house,
kicking away the barricade Of boxes
from the door. Under the window thew
found Ladeau dead, his lips forever
sealed, and In another room Law Albert
the .peddler, his piteous life come to
the inevitable nothingness. The wom-
an children, burrowed in the cellar,
cold, starved, were unhurt.
But on the frozen field a group had
formed. Curran knelt to watch his
child's face. Harlan had ~dismounted
and was staring. He could not speak
as Curran wiped the blood from his
eyes and muttered:
Couldn't you see? Couldn't you hear?
Crying to you, Harlan. to stop. That
shs loved you-with all her soul she
loved you'll"
The other mans lips moved uselessly.
Then he turned to h others. your
machine, Arne! Quick!"
STOPPING, he seized the girls body.
The father chung to her and 1t was as
II the two were fighting for her pos
session. Then Harlan whirled back,
with the blood from her lips staining
his shoulder. Keep back. Wiley. The
machine-quick Home And
as they all ran. Curran trying to keep
her hand in his. as 1t hung from Har.
lan's arm, the younger man kept NUT
tertnE: II didn't know4God help me.
Wiley-I didn't knowl"
They thrust Old Michigan aside in
the car and were In. The two men
seemed against struggling to hold her.
as the machine ground off through the
field. Janet was conscious Of the
awed white faces-thousands of them,
1t seemed-along the roads to town.
Only they new that "Michigan's girl
wal being borne from her old horne now
shot-riddled and burning, and that the
outlaw OF the Pocket was dead. They
could not hear Mich's bewildered
mumblingg In the car, or Wiley Cur
ran, as she shifted his child's body
from the widening pools Of blood on
the cushions, whispering: Calling to
YOU. boy, just kept on going-calling
that h loved you'll"
The a was In the Van Hart yard.
Harlan dragged his burden from them,
silent, fierce with possession. He laid
her on q bed on the lower floor before
his mother knew OF their entrance. In
the hall Janet Vance Was trying to
comfort Michigan who babbled on
about his little giH-the little girl he
|llad done brought up-rtver. They were
Tying to take her away from him