The Ekalaka eagle. [volume] (Ekalaka, Mont.) 1909-1920, 1915-11-05
cealment, made a bold break for the

Rcd to the fence and swung h1msei1
up OH it just in time to see Ross speed
ing away cross the stretch Of open|
land. Seated OH the top rail, he ra1sedI
his pistol and took careful aim at Ross1
back.
"11l fetch him this time" he thought,
and no doubt he would have done sol
had not something unforeseen transpir-
ed-another Of those trivial, insigntf
cant incidents that sometimes make orI
mar a human life.
When he had taken deliberate and
deadly aim. and just as he was in the|
act of pulling the trigger, the rail on|
which he sat. the same rail that had
crashed beneath Ross, gave way a sec-|
ond time. His head went down. his|
feet flew up and he turned n back SOM
ersault into the field, while the ball
from the pistol went up into the air.
The guerrilla was not hurt and, quick
~ %springing to his feet, he jumped over
the fence and dashed away across the
open. Ross had reached the woods and
passed out of sight among the thick
underground, but the other was able
to follow his course by the nustling of
the bushes.
Then again the flight and chase were
renewed. but this time the pursuer|
slowly but steadily gained on the other
Around and around through the bush,
es, lodging here and there, the two,
men went, one trying to throw the 9TH.
er of his track and the other persist
emily keeping close on the trail.
For a quarter of an hour they kept
this up, and at the end Of that time
only a few feet of space separated
them. Ross was so exhausted he could
scarcely drag his feet, and he felt that
In but a few seconds he would drop
IN his tracks. The other had a little
more energy, but not much. Still he
was steadily gaining.
Ross, in his excitement, did not no.
tice that his pursuer no longer fired at
him, or, at least, If he did he gave it
no thought. If he had known that the
other had fired his last charge away
he might have stopped and engaged
him in a hand to hand fight. AS it
was, however, he continued to drag
nlmSelr YEARLY on.
At last he reached such q stage of ex-
haustion that he felt he could not hold
out another minute. He Wavered and
tottered as he ran, grasping limbs and
bushes for support. When his pursuer
was almost upon him another of those
trivial but momentous incidents hap
Eened.
Ross ran under a large tree from
which hung a long swinging limb. In
his frantic efforts to gain support he
grasped this limb and held it as he
ran. He pulled it forward as far as it
would go, then let it slip from his
hand. Unknown to him, unhoped for
and undreamed Of by him, the limb
flew back, struck the other man square
across the face and knocked him down.
Ross, supposing himself still follow
ed, ran on into a thick clump Of bushes,
staggered blindly forward for a time,
then stumbled and fell and rolled down
q bank into a pool of mud and water
at the bottom of a ravine.
He was too much exhausted to at
tempt to get up, so for several minutes
he lay there, expecting every instant
to see the other man appear on the
scene. But his pursuer did not come,
for the reason that he was lying on
the ground dazed and but half con-
scious.
Finally Ross arose and crawled up
the opposite bank, intending to con-
tinue his flight. But no sooner had he
reached the top and regained his feet
than he found himself face to face
with another man, who held a long
eled directly at his heart.
Under ordinary circumstances Ross
would have been amused by the APP
p%earance Of the man with the gun.
He was such a grotesque looking old
chap, with his long hair and unkempt
beard, his coonskin cap and white torn
p%antaloons.
He was a native Of that part of Mis-
souri, known as Postum Ridge, and he
was n Of those slow, deliberate and
curious people who never get excited
and who are far from being the fools
one might think.
For a full minute he stood looking
at Ross in silence. his little eyes twin
king, then with perfect calmness he
remarked:
Hit pears to me lack, young Teller,
that when yo' 20 in swimmin' hit 'u'd
be best to scrter look out fer yo'
clothes, specially when yo' go a-swim-
min in q mudhole,"
Ross looked down at his blue uni
form. which was literally plastered
with mud, but he felt very little inter
est in that. The spelling Of his cloth
ing was a small matter to him then,
when other and weightier troubles lay
thick about him. The things of chief
interest to him just then were the in
tentions of the old man and the where
abOutS Of the guerrilla.