The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1916-03-12

NSM<MsNA\4bEl trembling. Startled out
&VICS&62OS1A of his unpleasant rumi-
yAG@4egx nations, his lips tensing
over his teeth in savage
snan, Nevins swayed in the saddle, caught
himself, crouched, and swung his heavy
pistols to an alert poise.
Ten feet in front of the pony, and squarely
In the center of the trail, gigantic diamond
back RATHER swayed and warned. Nevins's
snarl deepened, he dug spur into the pony's
Left flank and pulled sharply upon the left
rein. The pony lunged forward, swerved
TO the left, and came to its launches as the
reins suddenly frightened. Then the heavy
revolver In Nevins's right hand roared spite
fully; there was a sudden threshing in the
dust of the trail, and the huge RATHER shud-
dered into a sinuous, twisting heap-its
head neatly severed.
Mans SIZE" declared Nevins, his snarl
relaxing. Cit along, yuh durn fooli
Scared of rattleri"
Relieved, debating its lungs with tre-
mendous heave, the pony gingerly returned
to the trail In thirty seconds it had re-
sumed its dropping shuttle; in thirty seconds
Nevins had returned to his unpleasant runi-
nations.
A mile up in the shimmering blue an
eagle swan on slow wing, shaping his wind
ing course toward the cottonwood clump
that fringed the waters of the Purgatory
River-hve miles away Besides the eagle,
the pony and himself, there was no living
thing in the valley In the shade of a rock,
perhaps, lurked lizard; in the flmy mes
quite that dropped and curled In the sitting
heat crawled RATHER; in the shelter of the
gray sage-brush sage-hen nested her eggs
in the hot sand. But these were fixtures.
/ Nevins, his pony, and the eagle were not
The eagle was Mexican; it had swung its
mile-wide circles many times to reach the
/ point near the cottonwood; it was migratory
and alert with the hunger lust. Nevins was
not hungry. Back in Trinidad he had met
man who had treated him royalty. There
had been many words between them, and
when they had parted the man had pressed
a great roll of bills into Nevins's hand.
There had been few words of instruction.
But the mans voice had been hard. His
name is McVea. He's manager of the Bar
Cross. There's two hundred in that roll
I've given you. IF McVea dies before the
fall roundup, you get two hundred more.
That had been a week ago. OF the seven
DAYS FIVE had been expended In riotous
"blow." Money had flown like water;
terror had reigned in the saloons and on the
street. Even the hardy men of Trinidad
were admittedly relieved when one morning
Nevins had awakened, dull-eyed and dazed
to look upon the last dollar of the two hun
dred. He had few friends. There were
none who cared to become familiar enough
with him to attain that personal eminence.
Trinidad had known him long, and had
come to the conclusion that certain aloof-
ness toward him was no waste OF prudence.
Therefore there was a concerted sigh of re-
:, lief when, on the sixth morning, Nevins had
quietly tossed his last dollar upon the bar
Of the Red Cloud Saloon, drank his whisky,
and departed down the wide, sun-baked
street in cloud of dust.
The pony clattered down the slope,
plunged deeply into the stream, and drank
with eager, silent draughts. Nevins swung
himself crossways in the saddle, fumbled
for a moment at the slicker, and drew
out battered tin cup. Reaching over, he
filed the cup with water, tilted his head
back, and drank. A blur in the white
sky caught his gaze and held it. His eyes
Knocked, his lips snarled.
cts that damned greaser eaglel' he said
Followed me fifty miles" A fash of race
hatred glinted in his eyes, II wouldn't lei
no damned greaser eagle git me, anyway
The pony had drunk its fill. Nevins re-
turned the cup to the sicker and swung
back into the saddle. Refreshed, the pony
took the opposite slope with rush, emery
ing from the river bed upon small plateau
studded with hr-balsams and pines. Nevins
halted and swung stifay from the saddle
Then he yawned, stretched his 1.-THE, strong
fipureito its full height, and again fumblec
at the slicker. This time he produced {
razor, the tin cup, a shaving brush and Z
small mirror. He flung the reins over tn,
pony's head, and allowed it to browse the
dried river weeds that grew in the crevice!
of the rocks. Then he tied the mirror to on,
of the branches of FIR, so that it swung on
: level with his face, descended to the rive
bed and filled the tin cup with water. Re
turning to the tree upon which he had hunj
the mirror, he mixed lather with the shaw
ing brush, the soap and the water. Then b
looked upon the reflection of his face in tn
mirrors The snarl was gone. In its plac
had appeared a hooking reluctant grin
One hand came involuntarily upward ant
sought his brown, luxuriant mustache.
had beer h:A one solace In the long silenc