The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1916-10-12

a guns. That means death to somebod
4 Ii we can, we want to stop them jul
at the door"
But will you hide?" asked MacNell
"hlde!' The idea had not occurre
to Duane.
There's a wide open doorway, a Sol
of round hall, a vestibule, with stel
\ leading up to the bank. There's a doc
8 in the vestibule, too. It leads some
A where. We can put men in there. Yo
4 can be there"
! Duane was silent.
See here, Duane" began MacNell
nervously; you slla'n't take any undu
risk here. You'll hide with the rest @
us?"
mol" The word was wrenched fron
Duane.
MacNery stared. and then a strange
~con1prehenGins Hsht seemed to fiji
Duane, l. can give you no or
ders today" he said, distinctly
Il am only offering advice. Nee,
you take any more risks? You've don,
a grand JOB for the service-already
You've paid me 1000 times for tina
pardon. You've redeemed yourself. Til
governor. the adjutant generally,
whole state will Use up and honor you
The games almost up. Wen kill these
outlaws, or enough of them to breal
forever their power. | say, as a ranger
lcen you take more FISK than your cap
tain?"
Still Duane remained silent. He was
locked between two forces. And one,
a tide that was bursting at it's bounds,
seemed about to overwhelm him. FL
nally that side of him, the retreating
self, the weaker, found a voice.
Captain, you want this job to be
sure" he asked.
"Certainl%."
I've told o the way. alone know
the kind of men to he met. Just what
I'll do or where I'll be | can't say yet.
In meetings like this the de-
cides. But I'll be there!"
MacNelly spread wide his hands,
looked Eelplessly at his curious and
sympathetic rangers, and shook his
head.
Nov that you've Zone your work
laid the trap-is this strange move of
yours going to be fair to Miss Long
streth?' asked MacNelly, in significant
low voice.
Duane yibrated to that. He looked up
as If he had seen a ghost.
Merciiessly The ranger captain went
on: You can win her, Duane! Oh,
you can't fool me; | was wise in a
minute. Fight with us from cover
then go back to her. You will have
served the Texas rangers as no other
ti@it i+t'7. i eSCtiil your "0SlSnillD
You'll be free, houored, happy. That
cir! loves YOU! l saw it in her eyes
She's"
But Duane cut him short with a
lerce gesture. He lunged up to his
feet, and the rangers fell back. Dark,
silent, grim as he had been, still there
was a transformation si%ngularly more
sinister, stranger.
Enough. Pm DONE" he said, SOM
berly. I've planned. Do we agree
or shall meet Poggin and his gang
%alone?"
MacNelly cursed and again threw up
his hands, this time in baffled chagrin.
There was deep regret in his dark eyes
as they rested upon Duane.
Duane was left alone.
Never had his mind been so quick.
SO clear, sc wonderful in it's under
standing of hat had heretofore been
intricate and elusive impulses Of his
strange nature. His determination was
TO meet Poggin; meet him before any
one else had a chance-Poggin first
n then the others! He was as UNI
in that decision as if on the
instant Of it's acceptance he had be-
come stone.
Why? Then came realization. He
was not a ranger now. He cared moth
ing for the state. He had no thought
OF freeing the community of a danger
- VI luSlllS Tie COultTV OF |
obstacle to it's progress and pros
perlty. He wanted to kill Poggin. 1t
was significant now that he forgot the
other outlaws. He was the gunmau.
the U thrower, the gun fighter, pas
and terrible. His fathers blood,
that dark and fierce strain; his moth
spirit, that strong and unquench-
able spirit of the surviving pioneer
these had been in him; and the killings,
one after another, the wild and haunt
ed years, had made him, absolutely in
spite of his will, the gunman. He re-
allied it now, bitterly, hopelessly. The
thing he had intelligence enough to
dered under the driving, ruthless, in
human blood lust of the gunman. Long
ago he had seemed to seal in a tomb
that horror of his kind-the need. in
order to forget the haunting, ~sleepless
presence of his last victim, to go out
and kill another. But it was still there
IN his mind, and now 1t stalked out,
more powerful, magnified by its
rest, augmented by the violent passions
peculiar and inevitable to that strange.
wild product Of the Texas frontier
the gun fighter. And those passions
were so violent, SO raw, so base, so
much lower tina what ought to have
in a thinking man. Actual pride
Of his record! Actual vanity in his
speed with a gun! Actual jealousy .ot
any rival!
Duane could not believe 1t. But there
was, without a choice. What he
had feared for years had become a
monstrous reality. Respect for him
self, blindness. a certain honor that he |
had chung to while in outlawry-all, like
seemed to fall away from him.
He stood stripped bare, his soul naked
the soul of Cain. Always since the
first brand had been forced and burned
him he had been ruined. But now
with conscience flayed to the quick, yet
powerless oyer this tiger In
he was lost. He said it. He ad-
mitted 1t. And at the utter abasement
the soul he despised suddenly leapedl
and quivered with the thought Of Ray
Longstreth.
-tThen came agony. AS he could not
govern all the chances Of this fatal
meetings. all his swift and deadly
genius must be occupied with Poggin,
pei haps in vain-as hard shooting men
whom he could not watch would be
close behind, this almost certainly must
be the end of Buck Duane. That did
not matter. But he loved the girl. He
wanted her. All her sweetness, her
fire. and pleading returned to torture
At that moment the door opened, and