The Columbus courier. [volume] (Columbus, Luna County, N.M.) 1911-1920, 1915-04-16

time iM see mat yo get yer ticket"
Then he added, with c~onciliating soft
ness; We've been friends a long
while. Let's talk this thing over be-.
fore we fall out"
THAR haint nothin' TO talk over"
stormed Aaron. "Ye're jest tryin' ter
kill time TIN the boys gifts hyar, and
then reckon 20 lows ter have me kilt
like yer've had me XIII them others.
HIT amt nc use. I've done sent EN-
away. When they gifts back hyar,
either youn be In hell. or I'll be on my
way outen She mountings."
Samson stood rigid. Here was the
confession Of one murderer, with no
denial from the other, The truce was
on. Why should he waltz Cstaracts
seemed to thunder In his brain, and
yet he stood there, his hand In his coat
pocket, clutching the grip OF a maya
zine pistol. Samson South the old. and
Samson South the new we're writhlng
In the life-and-death grapple Of two
codes. Then. before decision came,
he heard a sharp report inside, and
the heavy fall Of a body TO the floor.
A wildly excited figure came pluug-
ing through the door, and samson's
left hand swept out and seized its
shoulder In a sudden wise grip.
DO you know met" he inquired. as
the mountaineer pulled away and
crouched back with startled surprise
and vicious frenzy.
No, damn vel Git outen my roadl"
Aaron thrust his cooked rife close
against the strangers face. From
Its muszle came the acrid stencil Of
freshly burned powder. Cit outen my
road afore | kills yet"
MY name is Samson South"
Before the %astounded finger on the
trigger could be crooked, Samson's
pistol spoke from the pocket, and, as
though in echo, the rife blazed, a little
too late and q shade too high. over his
head. as the dead mans arms went up.
Except for those two reports there
was no sound. Samson stood still, IN.
t~icipatlng an uproar of alarm. Now
he should doubtless have 10 pay with
his life for both the deaths, which
would inevitably and logically be at
tributed to his agency. But, strangely
enough, no clamor arose. The shot in
side had been mufied, and those out.
side. broken by the intervening store.
did not arouse the house. Purvy's
bodyguard had been sent away by Hol.
lis on a false alarm. Only the women.
folks" and children remained indoors,
and they we're drowning with a piano
any sounds that might have come from
without.
Now Samson South stood looking
down. uninterrupted. on what had been
Aaron Hollis as Il lay motionless at
his feet. There was a powder-burned
hole in the butternut shirt, and only
a slender thread OF blood trickled into
the dirt.grimed cracks between the
planks.
Samson turned to the darkened door.
way. Inside was emptiness. except for
the other body. which had crumpled
forward and face down across the
counter. A glance showed that Jesse
Purvy would no more fight back the
coming OF death. He was quite I'M
armed
Samson paused only for a momen-
tary survey. His score was clean. He
would not again have TO agonlze over
the dilemma Of old ethics and new.
Tomorrow tine word would spread like
wildhre along Misery and Crippleshin
that Samson South was back and that
his coming had been s~ignalized by
these two deaths. The fact that he
was responsible for only ons-and that
In self-defenHe-would not matter.
They would prefer to believe that he
had invaded the store and killed Purvy
and that Hollis had fallen IN his mas.
ters defense at the threshold. Sam.
son went out. still meeting no one. and
continued his Journey.
Dusk was falling when he hitched
his horse Ia a clump OF timber, and,
lifting his ~saddlebags. began climbing
to a cabin that sat back In a thicketed
cove. He vas now we'll within South
territory and the need OF masquerade
had ended.
The cabin a not tor years been oc.
cupied. Its rooftree was leaning
askew under rotting shingles The
doorstep was Uncovered. and the
stones OF the hearth we're broken. But
Il lay we'll hidden and would serve bis
purposes
shortly. a candle nickersd inside,
before a small hand mirror. Scissors
and safety q were for a while
busy. The man who entered IN i'm.
p~eccable clothes emerged hfteen min.
utes lRter-transformed. There ap.
peared under the rising June crescent
a smooth-faced native. clad In stained
store clothes. with rough wooden socks
showing at his brosan tops. and a
battered felt hat drawn over his face
No n who had known the Samson
South Of four years ago would fall 10
recognize him nov And the strang.
est part, he told himself. was that he