Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1916-03-21

the thought could possibly occur to
me not to ride at his side on that red
road to revenge and justice. 1t was
the higher calculus. / was booked for
the trail. I began TO eat more'beans.
In an hour $Fe set forth at q steady
gallop eastward. Our horses were Ken
lucky bred, strengthened by the mes.
quite grass Of the west.
l knew that Ben Tatum's card to
play was flight-fight until he came
within the safer territory Of his own
henchmen and supporters. He knew
that the man pursuing him would fol.
low the trail to any end where it might
lead.
During the ride Sam talked Of the
prospect for rain, Of the price Of beef,
and Of the musical glasses. You would
have thought he had never had broth
or or a sweetheart or an enemy on
earth. There are some subjects too
big even for the words in the "Una-
bridged." Knowing this phase Of the
feud code, but not having practiced 1t
sufficiently l overdid the thing by tell
ing some slightly funny anecdotes.
Sam laughed at exactly the right place
Laughed with his mouth. When
caught sight Of his mouth I wished
had been blessed with enough sense
of Aumor to have, suppressed those
anecdotes.
Our first sight Of them we had In
Guthrie. Tired and hungry, we Stun
bled, unwashed, into little yellow
pine hotef and sat at q table. In the
opposite corner we saw the fugitives.
They were bent upon their meal, but
looked around at times uneasily.
The girl was dressed In brown-one
Of these smooth. half shiny, silky look
ing affairs with lace collar and cuffs
and what believe they call an &C
Gordon plated skirt. She wore thick
brown veil down to her nose and q
broad brimmed straw hat with some
Kind of feathers adorning 1t. The man
wore plain, dark clothes, and his hair
was trimmed very short. He was
such a man as you might see any
where.
There they were-the murderer and
the woman he had stolen. There we
were-the rightful avenger, according
to the code, and the supernumerary
who writes these words.
"What are you waiting for, SamT I
said in a whisper. LET him have It
nowr
Sam gave a melancholy sigh.
"You don't understand, but he does" J"
be said. "He knows. Mr.. Tenderfoot
there's rule out here among white
men in the Nation that you can't shoot
a man when he's with a woman. !
never knew it to be broke yet You
can't do it. You've got to get him In q
gang of men or by himself. That's
why. He knows it too. We all know.
So that's Mr.. Ben Tatum! One Of the
pretty menp I'll cut him out Of the
herd before they leave the hotelp
After supper the flying pair disap-
peared quickly. Although Sam haunt
ed lobby and stairway and halls half
the night, in some mysterious way the
fuxitives eluded him, and In the morn
ing the yelled lady In the brown dress
with the accordion plated skirt and
the dapper young man with the close
cropped hair, and the buckboard with
the prancing nags were gone.
It 10 a monotonous story, that Of the
ride, 80 1t shall be curtatled Once
again we overlook them on road. We
were about fifty yards behind. They
turned In the blackboard and looked at
M, then drove on without whipping up
their horses. Their safety NO longer
lay In speed. Ben Tatum knew. He
knew that the only rock Of safety left
/ to him was the code.
So you may perceive that woman. on
occasions, may postpone instead Of pre-
cipitating conflict between man and
man. But not willingly or consciously.
She u oblivious Of codes.
Five miles farther we came upon the
future great western city Of Chandler.
The horses Of pursuers and pursued
were starved and weary. There was
one hotel that offered danger to man
and entertainment to beast; 90 the
| four OF us met again In the dining
room at the ringing of q bell 90 reso.