The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1915-02-20

NOR, so. when they axed me eff 1
knowed We, 1 lowed I didn't know
nothin' good about ye. l had ter cuss
ye out, or git in trouble myself"
Tamarack cursed the whole Holman
tribe, and his companion went on:
Jim Asberry was thar. He lowed
they'd found out thet you'd done shot
Purvy thet time, an he said"-the
brakeman paused to add emphasis to
his conclusion-'tthet the next time ye
come home, he lowed ter git ye plumb
shore
Tamarack scowled
Much obIeeged," he replied.
At Hixon Tamarack Spicer strolled
along the street toward the court
house. He wished to be SEEN So long
! as it was broad daylight and he dis
played no hostility, he knew he was
safe-and he had plans.
Standing before the Holman store
were Jim Asberry and several COM
panions. They greeted Tamarack af-
fably and he paused to talk.
"Ridin' over ter Misery?" inquired
Asberry.
Lowed 1 mout as WE'LL
Mind eff 1 rides with ye es fur es
Jesse's placer"
Plumb glad ter have company"
drawled Tamarack.
They chatted of many things, and
Travelled slowly, but, when they came
| to those narrows where they could not
| ride stirrup to stirrup each jockeyed
| for the rear position, and the man who
found himself forced into the lead
turned in his saddle and talked back
over his shoulder, with wary, though
seemingly careless, eyes. Each knew
the other was bent on his murder.
At Purvy's gate Asberry waved fare
well and turned in. Tamarack rode
on. but shortly he hitched his horse
in the concealment of hollow, walled
with huge rocks, and disappeared into
the laurel
He began climbing, in crouched
position, bringing each foot down
noiselessly and pausing often to listen.
Jim Asberry had not been outwardly
armed when he left Spicer. But, soon,
the brakeman's delicately attuned ears
| caught a sound that made him lie fat
in the lee of a great log, where he was
masked in clumps of Towering rho
dodendron. Presently Asberry passed
him, also walking cautiously, but hur-
riedly, and grading a Winchester rife
| in the hollow of his arm. Then Tama-
rack knew that Asberry was taking
this cut to head him off and waylay
him in the gorge a mile away by road
| but a short distance only over the hill.
| Spicer held his heavy revolver cooked
i in his hand, but it was too near the
PurVy house to risk shot. He waited
a moment, and then, rising, went on
noiselessly with snarling grin, stalk
ing the man who was stalking him.
Asberry found a place at the foot
of huge pine where the underground
would cloak him. Twenty yards below
ran the ycreek-bed road, returning from
it's long horseshoe deviation. When
he had taken his position his faded
butternut clothing matched the earth
as inconspicuously as a quail matches
dead leaves, and he settled himself to
wait Slowly and with infinite eau
ton his intended victim stole down,
guarding each step, until he was in
short and certain range, but, instead
of being at the front, he came from
| the back. He, also, lay fat on his
stomach and raised the already cooked
pistol He steadied it in a two-handed
grip against a tree trunk and trained
it with deliberate care on point to
the left of the other mans spine just
below the shoulder blades.
Then he pulled the trigger! He did
not go down to inspect his work. 1t
was not necessary. The instantaneous
fashion with which the head of the
Ambassador settled forward on its
face told him all he wanted to know.
He slipped back to his horse, mounted
and rode fast to the house of Spicer
South, demanding asylum.
The next day came word that if
Tamarack Spicer would surrender and
stand trial in a court dominated by
the Hollmans the truce would con
tinue. Otherwise the war was on
The Souths flung back this message:
Come and git him.
But Holman and Purvy, hypocriti
caIly clamoring for the sanctity Of the
law, made no effort to come and "git
him" They knew that Spicer South
house was now a fortress, prepared fol
siege. They knew that every trail
thither was picketed. Also, they knew
a better way. This time they had the
color of the law on their side. The
circuit Judge, through the sheriff
asked for troops and troops came
Their tents dotted the river bank be
low the Hixon bridge. A detail IN
| Aa1 ont off0r %
rack Spicer. The militia captain IL
command, who feared neither feudist
nor death, was courteously received
He had brains, and he assured then
that he acted under orders which
could not be disobeyed. Unless they
, surrendered the prisoner, gatling guns