Pierre weekly free press. (Pierre, S.D.) 1889-19??, 1916-08-03

on through the willows and at length
tfa rifles ceased to crack
lie sheered to the left again, in line
with tho rocky barrier. and KEPT on.
wondering what the next mile would
BRING. 1t brought worse, for he was
seen by sharp eyed scouts, and "a hot
frsillade drove him to run for his life,
luckily to scape with no more than a
bullet creased shoulder.
Later that day, still u~ndaunted, hi
sheered again toward the trap wall,
and found that the nearer he an
preached to the place where he had
come down into the brake the greater
his danger. To attempt to run the
blockade of that train by day would
be fatal. He waited for night, and
after the brightness of the fires had
some what lessened he saved to
creep out of the brake. He succeeded
IN reaching the foot of the bluff, here
only a bank, and had begun to crawl
Stealthlly up under cover of a shadow
when u hound again betrayed his po-
sition. Retreating to the willows was
as peillous a task as had ever con-
tronted Duane; and when he had ac-
compllshed it, right under what
seemed 100 blazing rifles, he felt that
ne had indeed beer favored by proyi-
dence. This time men followed him
a goodly ways into the brake, and the
ripping of lead through the willows
III oil SUES OI MN.
When the noise of pursuit ceased
duane sat down in the darkness, his
mind clamped between two things
whether to try again to escape or wait
Tor possible opportunity. He seemed
Of decision. His intelligence
told MN that every hour lessened his
chances for escape. He had little
enough chance in any case, and that
was what made another attempt so
desperately hare Still it was not love
of life that bound him. There would
come an hour, sooner or later, when
he would wrench decision out of this
chaos OF emotion and thought. But
that time was not yet.
When he had remained quiet long
enough to cool off and recover from
his run he found that he was tired. He
stretched out to rest. But the sWarms
or VICIOUS mosquitoes prevented sleep.
This corner of the brake was low and
near the river, a breeding ground for
the blood-suckers They sans and
hummed and whined around him in an
ever increasing horde. He covered his
head and hands with his coat and law
there p~atiently.V That was a long and
wretched night. Morning found him
stiii strong physically. but in a dread
ful state of mind.
First he hurried for the river. He
could withstand the pangs of hunger.
put 1t vas Imperative to quench thirst.
Ills wound made him feverish., and
therefore more than usually hot and
thirsty. Again he-was refreshed. That
morning he was hard put to it to hold
hlrnseiI BACK from attempting to cross
the river. III he could find q light log
it was within the bounds of possibility
That he might ford the shallow water
n bars of quicksand. But not YETI,
Wearlfy, doggedly he faced about tow
ard the bluff.
Al, a.
All that day n all that night. all
the next day and all the next night. he
TO bluff; and every hour forced upon
him the bitter certainty that he was
trapped.
Duane lost track of days. of events.
lie had come to,an evil pass. Their ar
rived an hour when, closely pressed by
pursuers at the extreme southern cor
ner of the brake, he took to a dense
thicket of willows, driven to what he
believed was his last stand.
III only these human ~bloodhouds
"c"ld swiftly close iii on him, Let
him fight to the last bitter gasp and
have it over! But these hunters, eager
as they We're to get him, had care of
Their own skins. They took few risks.
They had him cornered.
1t was the middle of the day. hot.
dusty, oppressive. threatening storm.
. Like a snake Duane crawled into 81
little space in the darkest part of the
thicket and lay still. Men had cut him
off from h bluff, from the river,
seemingly from all sides. But he heard
voices only from in front and toward
his left. Even if his passage to the
river had not been blocked. it might
just as well have been.
Come on fellers-down hyar." called
one man from the bluff.
. him ,corre."!ca at last" shouted
another.
Reckon we Needn't be too shore. We
thought tibet more'n one" tainted an
other.
Il seen him, l tell you"
"Aw, tibet was a deer"
But Bill found fresh tracks an
blood on the willows"
If he's winged we needn't hurry"
Hold on thar, you boys" came a
shout in authoritative tones from far
Their up the bluff. "Go slow. You all
air gittin' foolish at the end of a long
chase"
"Thet's right, colonel. Hold 'em
back. There's nothin' shorer than some
bodyll be stoppin' lead pretty quick.
He'll be huntin' us oon!"
Let's surround this corner an starve
| him out"
Fire the brake"
How clearly all this talk pierced
Duane's ears! In it he seemed to hear
his doom. This, then was the end he
had always expected, which had been
close to him before, yet v like
now.
by God!" whispered Duane. "the
thing for me to do now-is go out
NEST them!"
That was prompted by the fighting,
the killing instinct in him. In that mo.
ment it had almost superhuman pow
er. II he must die, that was the way
for him to die. What else could be
expected of Buck Duane? He got to his
knees and drew his gun. With his
swollen II almost useless hand he
held what spare ammunition he had
left. He ought to creep out noiselessly
to the edge OF the willows, suddenly
face his p%ursuers, then, while there was
a beat left in his heart, kill, kill. kill.
These men all had rifles. The fight
would be short. But the marksnen did
not live on earth who could make such
a fight go wholly against him. Con-
fronting them suddenly he could kill q
man for every shot in his gun.
Thus Duane reasoned. So he hoped
to accept his fatcrto meet this end.
But when he tried to step forward
something checked him. He forced
himself; vet he couiGIsct go. The OBJ
! ~Struction that opposed his will wa &c