The Tabor independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1913-19??, 1916-10-12

guns. That means death to somebody
u we can. We want to stop them just
4 at the door,
But will you hide.p asked MacNelIy
"Hide!" The idea had not occurred
to Duane.
There's a wide open doorway, a sori
OF round hall, q ~vestibule. with steps
u leading up to tho bank. There's q dooI
IN the vestihule. too, It leads some1
where. We can put men in there. You
can be there"
See here. Duane began MacNelly
nervously; "yeu shasn,t take any undue
risk here. You'll hide with the rest OF
usf'
mol" The word was wrenched from
Duane.
MacNelly stared. and then a strange,
comprehending light seemed to fit
duane. I can give you no or
ders today" he said. distinctly.
II am only offering advice. Need
you take any more risks? You've done
a grand job for the enthusiastically.
You've paid me 1000 times for that
pardon. You've redeemed yourself. The
whole state will rise UP and honor you.
The games almost UP. Wen kill these
outlaws. or enough of them to break
forever their power. / say as q ranger,
need you take more risk than your cap
tain 2"
still Duane remained silent. He was
looked between two forces. And one.
q tide that was bursting at Its bounds.
seemed about to overwhelm him.. FL
nally that side of him, the r~etreating
self, the weaker. found a voice.
Captain, you want this job to be
sure?" he asked.
Certainly" p
1--WE told you the way. I alone know
the kind Of men to be met. Just what
| I'll do or where I'll be 1 can't say yeti
In meetings like this the moment de-
cides. But I'll be there!"
MacNelly spread wide his hands,
looked helplessly at his curious and
1 sympathetic rangers. and shook his
1 head.
"Now that you've done 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.
Like a great tree chopped at the roots
Duane vibrated to that. He looked up
as tf he had seen a ghost.
Mercilessly the ranger captain went
4 you can't fool me; I was wise in q
minute. Fight with vi from cover
then 60 back to her. You will have
served the Texas rangers as no other
man has. I'll accept your designations
You'll be free, honored. happy, That
girl loves you! I saw 1t In her eyes:
But Duane cut him short with a
/ fierce gesture. He lunged up to his
I feet, and the ranger fell back, Dark.
4 silent. grim as he had been. still there
was a transformation ~singularly more
4 sinister. stranger.
Enough. I'm DONE" lie said. SOM
\ berry. I've planned. Do we agree
or shall I meet Poggin and his gang
| alone2"
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 80 quick,
SO clear, 40 wonderful in its under
! standing Of what had heretofore been
| intricate and elusive impulses OF his
strange nature. His determination was
to meet Poggin; meet him before any
] one else had q chance-Poggin first
and then the othersi He was as I'M
alterable in that decision as IL on the
instant OF Its acceptance he had be-
come stone
why2 Then came realization. He
vas not a range now. He cared moth
\ ing for the state. He had no thought
of freeing the community OF q danger
Gus outlaw. Of Kidding the country Of
an obstacle to its progress and pros
perity. he wanted to kill Poggin. 1t
was significant now that he forgot the
other outlaws. He was the gInman,
the gun thrower, the gun fighter. pas
| sionate and terrible. His ather's blood,
that la and fierce strain; his moth
er's spirit. that strong and u~nquench-
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
hate he had become. At last he shud-
dered under the driving, ruthless, in
human blood lust Of the gunman. Long
ago he had seemed to seal in a tomb
| order to forget the haunting, sleepless
presence Of his last victim, to go u
and kill another. But 1t was still there
in his mind, and now 1t stalked out,
l,worse. 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 than what ought to have
| existed in a thinking man. Actual pride
l Of his recordi Actual vanity in his
| speed with a gunl Actual jealousy 'of
I any rival!
Duane could not believe II. But there
! he was. without a choice. What he
| had feared for years had become 81
| monstrous reality. Respect for him-
| self, blindness, q certain that he
\ had chung to while In eutlawry-all, like:
| scales, 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.
| upon him he had been ruined. But now
| with conscience flayed to the quick, yet
utterly powerless over this tiger in
! stinct, he was lost. He said 1t. He ad-
mitted 1t. And at the utter abasement
the soul he despised suddenly leaped
and quivered with the thought Of Ray
Longstreth.
Then came agony. AS he could not
| govern all the chances Of this fatal
meeting-as all his swift and deadly,
| genius must be occupied with Poggins
| perhaps In vain-as hard shooting men'
whom he could not watch would be