Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1916-08-23
CHAPTER XIV lcontlnuedl.

victory. His outer life, the action, was
much the same as it had been: but the
inner lie had tremendously changed.
He could become u happy man.
he could never shake utterly those
haunting phantoins that had once been
his despair and madness. but he had
assumed u task impossible fora any man
a V n like hilal. he had felt the
meaning of 1T grow strangely and won-
derfuily, and through hat flourished
up Consciousness of how ~passionately
he now chung to this thing which would
blot out his former infauny. The iron
letters 10 more threatened his hands;
the iron door no more aunted his
dreams. he never forgot that he was
free. Strangely. too. along with this
feeling OF new manhood there gathered
the force of imperious desire to run
these chief outlaws to their doomS. He
never called them outlaws-but rust
lers, thieves, robbers, murderers,. Grim
inals. He sensed the growth of a re-
lentless driving passion, and sometimes
he feared that. more than the newly
acquired zeal and pride in his ranger
service, 1T Was the old. terrible in
herited killing instinct lifting it's hydra
could not be sure. He dreaded the
thought. He could only wait.
Another aspect of the change in
Duane, neither passionate nor driving,
yet not inlprobably even more potent
of new Significance to life. was the i'm
perceptible return OF an old love of
nature dead during his outlaw days.
For years a horse had been only a
machine of locomotion, to carry him
from place. to place. to beat and spur
and goad mercilessly ir flight; now
this giant black. with his splendid
head, was a companion, a friend, a
brother, a loved thing. guarded jeal-
ously. fed and trained and ridden with
nh intense appreciation of his great
daytime. with it's birth of sunrise on
through long hours to the ruddy close
had been used for sleep or rest in some
rocky hole or willow brake or deserted
hut. had been hated because it aug
mented danger of pursuit, because it
drove the fugitive to lonely. wretched
hiding; now the dawn was a greeting,
a promise of another day to ride. to
plan, to remember, and sun, wind.
cloud. rain. sky-all were joys to him,
somehow speaking his freedom. For
years the night had been a black space,
during which he had to ride unseen
Along the endless trails. to peer with
shape that ever pursued him: now the
twilight n the dusk and the shadows
of grove and canon darkened into
night with it's train Of stars, and
brought him calm reflection Of the
days happenings, of the morrow's pos
sibilities. perhaps a sad, brief process
sion of the old phantoms, then sleep.
mountains had been looked at as re-
treats that might be dark and wild
enough to hid ven an outlaw; now
he saw these features of the great
desert with something of the eyes of
tho boy who had once burned for adj
venture end life among them.
This night a wonderful afterglow lin
gcrcd long in the west. II against the
golden red OF clear sky the bold. black
head OF Mount Ord reared itself aloft.
beautiful but aloof, sinister yet calling.
Small wonder that Duane gazed in fas-
cins.ion upon the peak! Somewhere
deep in its corrugated sides or lost in a
rilGsed cannon was hidden the secret
stronghold of the master outlaw Chess
eifii,e. All down along the ride from Ell
P;4s5 Duane had heard of Cheseldine, Of
his band, his fearful deeds, his cunning.
his widely separated raids, of his fit
ting here and there like 81 Jack-o'-lan-
tern; but never Il word Of his den,
lever q word of his appearance.
Next morning Duane did not return
to Ord. He struck off to the north,
riding down a rough, slow descending
"a that appeared to have been used
occasionally for cattle driving. AS he
had ridden in from the west, his north
'ern direction led him into totally UNI
tasnilinr country. While he passed on,
however, he exercised such keen OBJ
servation that in the future he would
know whatever might be Of service to
him If he CHANGED that way again.
~ The rough, wild. brush covered slope
down from the foothills gradually
leyeled out into plain. u magnificent
grazing country. upon which till noon
of that day Duane did not see a herd Of
cattle or a ranch. About that time he
made out smoke from the railroad, and
after a couple OF hours riding he en-
tered a town which inquiry discovered
to be Bradford. 1t was the largest town
he had visited since Maria, and he call
culatcd must have 1000 or 1900 in
habitants. not including Mexicans. He
decided this would be a good place for
him to hold up for a while. being the
nearest town to Ord. only 40 miles
away. So he hitched his horse in front
of a store and leisurely set about
studying Bradford.
1t was after dark. however. that
Duane verified his suspicious concern-
Ing Bradford. The town was awake
after dark. and there was one long row
of saloons. dance halls. gambling re-
sorts In full blast. Duane visited them
all. and was surprised to see wildness
and license equal to that of the old
river camp OF BANDS in it's palmiest
days. Hero 1t was forced upon him that
tho farther west n travelled along the
river the sparser the respectable set
Elements, the more micro the hard
characters. and in consequences the
greater the element Of lawless-
ness. Duane returned to his lodging
house with the conviction that Mac
Nellyss task Of cleaning up the Big
Bend country was q ~stupend0us one.
frepid and quick shooting rangers
have soon cleaned up this Brad
ford.