The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-11-04

A day. This was the end of our jour- ney." she went on blindly, ''and-and f it is our wedding day. thought there must be some way to get Brick to the wedding, but you see how it is. And and we'll have to marry without him. But Bills herein that jail-because he wouldn't betray his friend. And I couldn't marry without either Brick or Bill, could I"'
 She took her quivering hand from Wilfred's sturdy arm and, moving to the top of the steps, held out her trem- 1 bling arms appealngly:
 Men! Give me BillH
 The crowd was with her, now No doubt of that. All ferceness gone, | tears here and there, broad grins to hide deep emotion, open admiration, touched with tenderness. in the eyes that took in her shy howerlike beauty. |
 'sYou shall have Billr' shouted the spokesman of the crowd. And other voices cried, "Give her Bill! Give her BiIlr' S
 Bring him outr' continued the spokesman in stentorian tones 'EWe'n not ask him a question. Fellows, clear D path for en-
 A the throng of smiling men whom the sudden, unexpected light of love had softened magicaiiy.
 While Mizzoo hastened to Bills cell. some one exclaimed, Invite us too. Make it a town weddingr'
 And another started the shout, "Hur- rah for Lahona 7
 Lahoma, who had taken refuge be
 
 laughed in a rosy glow of triumphant joy.
 Mizzoo presently reappeared, leaving the door wide open. He walked to the stairs, the wrinkles at the corners of the situation. Fellows he called, 'the says you carried him in there, and dinged if you won't have to carry him out, for not step will he takeI''
 At this unexpected development 8 burst of laughter sweIled into a roar. After that mighty merriment, Bill was as safe as babe. Twenty volunteers pressed forward to carry the wedding guest from his cell And when the old man slowly but proudly followed Will fred and Lhhoma to the hotel where certain preparations were to be made particularly as touching Bills per sona1 appearance-the town of Man. gum began gathering at the newly erected church whither they had been invited
 When the four friends-for Mizzoo joined them-drove up to the church door in the only carriage available, Bill descended stif1y, his eyes gleam- ing fercely from under snowy locks. as if daring any one to ask him a ques~ |, ton about Brick. But nobody did.
 The general suspicion that Bill At kins knew more about Brick Willock than he had revealed, was not without foundation; though the extent of his knowledge was more limited than the town supposed. Bill had carried to his friend Hidden in the crevice in the mountain top-the news of Red Kim balls death; since, then, they had not seen each other.
 Slzulking along wooded guIIies by day, creeping down into the cove at night, Willock had unconsciously re ! verted to the habits of thought and ac, tion belonging to the time of his out Iawry. He was again, in spirit, high wayman, though his hostility was directed only against those seeking to bring him to justice. The softening influence of the years spent with La homa was no longer apparent in his shifting bloodshot eyes, his crouching shoulders, his furtive hand eyer ready to snatch the weapon from conceal ment- This sinister aspect of wildness, 1 intensified by stra ggling whiskers and uncombed locks, gave to his giant form D kinship to the huge grotesquely shap- ed rocks among which he had made his den.
 He heard of Red KimbalPs death with bitter disappointment He had hoped to encounter his former chief, to grapple with him, to hur1 him. per haps, from the precipfce overlooking Bills former home. If in. his fall, KfmbaIl, with arms wound about his waist, had dragged him down to the same death, what matter? Though his enemy was now no more, the sheriff held the warrant for his arrest-as if the dead man could still strike mortal I blow. Tho sheriff might be overcome he was but man. That piece of pa- per calling for his arrest-an arrest | that would mean, at best, years in the | penitentiary-had behind it the whole i state of Texas.
 To Willock'ss feverish imagination, the warrant became personified; mys- l terious force. not to be destroyed by material means; it was not only pa per, but spirit. And it had come be- tween him and Lahoma, it had shut 1 him off from the possibility of peace full old age. The cove was no longer home but a hiding place
 l He did not question the justice of this sequel to his earlier life. No doubt deeds of long ago, never pun ished, demanded a sacrifice. He hated l the agents of this justice not so much | because they threatened his liberty, his life, as because they stepped in be- | tween hmself and Lahoma. Always a man of expedients. he now sought l some way of frustratin justice. and