Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1916-01-13
Make it 4 town w%edding".
And another started the shout, "aHf'
rah for I.ahoma!"

NNA0
rah for Iahoma!"
Lahoma, who had taken refuge be-
hind Wilfred's protection, wept and
laughed in Il rosy glow Of triumphant
joy.
Mizzoo presently r%cappeared. leaving
the door wide open. He walked to
the stairs, the wrinkles at the corners
of his eyes deep cut with appreciation
of the situation. Fellows" he called,
'he says you carried him in there, and
dinged if you won't have to carry him
out, for not Il step will lie take!!'
At this unexpected development 4
burst of laughter swelled into a roar.
After that mighty merriment. Bill was
as safe as a babe. Twenty volunteers
pressed forward to carry the wedding
guest from his cell. And when the old
man slowly but proudly followed Will
fred and Lahoma to the hotel where
certain preparations were to be made
particularly us touching Bills per-
sonal .appearance-thc town of Man
gum began gathering at the newly
erected church whittier they had been
invited.
When the four friends--for MizZoo
joined them-drovc up to the church
door in the only carriage available.
Bill descended stitlly. his eyes CLEAN
ing fercely from under snowy locks,
as II daring any one to ask him a queS-
ton about Brick. But nobody did.
The general suspicion that Bill At
kins knew more about Brick Wilcox
than he had revealed, was not without
foundation; though the extent of his
knowledge was more limited than the
town supposed. Bill had carried to his
f~riend-hidden in the crcvice in the
mountain top-the news of Red Kim
balls death; since then. they had not
seen each other.
Skulking along wooded gullies by
day, creeping down into the cove at
night, Wilcox had unconsciously re-
ton belonging to the time of his ont
lawry. He was again. in spirit, a high
wayman, though his hostility was
directed only against those seeking to
bring him to justice. The softening
influence Of the years spent with La
homa was no longer apparent in his
shifting %bloodshot eyes. his crouching
shoulders. his furtive hand ever ready
to snatch the weapon from conceal
ment. IhiS sinister aspect of wildness,
intensified by struggling whiskers and
uncombed locks. gave to his giant form
a kinship to the huge grotesquely shap-
ed rocks among which he had made
his den.
He heard Of Red Kimball's death
with bitter disappointment. He had
hoped to encounter his former chief,
to grapple with him. to hurl him. per-
haps, from the precipice overlooking
Bill's former home. If in his fall,
kimball. with arms wound about his
waist, had dragged him down to the
same death, what matter? Though his
enemy was now no more. the sheriff
held the warrant for his arreSt-aS If
the dead mar could still strike a mortal
blow. The sheriff might be overcome
he was but a man That piece of pa
per calling for his arrest-an arrest
that would mean, at best, years in the
penitentiary-had behind it the whole
state of Texas.
To Willock's feverish imagination,
the warrant became pe%rsoniied; a mys-
FERROUS force, not to be destroyed by
material means; it vas not only pa
per, but spirit. And it had come be-
tween him and Lahoma, it had shut
him off from the possibility Of a peace
full old age. The cove was no longer
home but a hiding place.
He did not question the justice of
this sequel to his earlier life. No
doubt deeds Of long ago, never pun
ished, demanded a sacrifice. He hated
the agents Of this justice not so much
because they threatened his liberty,
his life. as because they stepped in be-
tween HIMSELF and Lahoma. Always Il
man Of eXpedients, he now sought
some way of frustrating justice, and
naturally his plans took the color of
violence. Denied the savage JOY of
killing Red Kimball-and he would
have killed him with as little compunc-
ton as if he had been a wolf-his
thoughts turned toward Gledware.
Gledware was the only witness of
the deed for which the warrant de-
manded his arrest. Wilcox wished
many of his other deeds had been
prompted by impulses as generous as
those which had led to Kansas Kim,
balls death. Perhaps it was the irony
of justice that he should be threatened
by the act Of bloodshed which had
saved Lahoma's life. If he must be
hanged or imprisoned because he had
not, like the rest Of the band, given
himself up for official pardon it was as
we'll to suffer from one deed as from
another. But it would be better still
as in the past. tn escape all conse-
quences. Without Gledware they could
prove nothing.
Would Gledware testify now that
Red Kimball, who had bought his ties
timony With the death Of the Indian.