Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1916-12-01

In the nLIle arena as u JuuSe loohS
down from the bench, the man with
the moose about his neck turned an
appealing, helpless, whitening face.
and his lips moved. But no sound es-
capped them.
The silence was that Of the hills and
Of death.
It was broken by a football inside
the saloon, and from behind Bill John
appeared q woman, little more than a
girl. She was Frisco's daughter Katie,
who, attracted by the crowd, had come
from the kitchen which was set apart
a little way In the
For one second she surveyed the
scene through eyes red with weeping;
then she stepped into the ssmicircle of
men.
Kenny, the rope about his neck, went
whittier at sight of her ahd trembled,
afraid of the woman for love of whom
he had gone to his ruin.
But how he had loved her! If he
might know that she even now still
cared one little bit he could 60 to his
doom and die like a man.
'Time's up," announced Bill John,
swapping the case of his watch.
"Wait."
Something in the girls voice as she
spoke-something Kenny least of all
had expected and which he could not
def1ne-caused him to lift his head.
Would she taunt him for killing her
lover, he who had known the way to
a woman's heart, ROW that he was 60
ing to his own death?
He tried to kill me-" he pleaded. ~
cannot make them believe me, but 1
had to do It,"
"That Is what I have come to tell
you," answered the girl, addressing
the men who formed the semicircle.
81 saw it all. I was riding on the up
per trail, and I saw it. He killed him
in self defense"
Kenny looked at the girl unbeliev-
ingly. She whose lover he had shot
down, whose scorn he had expected,
she had come at the crisis to ave his
neck. They must believe her.
In spite Of the hemp rope, he threw
back his head and laughed boldly in
triumph, for he had cheated the death
that a moment before lowered over
him, and In life there would now be
no handsome, hated Blick to win away
the girls heart from him.
Bill John Mickle from the doorway
speaking.
kenny" he said, "she has saved
your worthless hide, but you've had a
narrow escape. Let this be a lesson to
you. We can't hang you now, but this
community don't need your kind, and
you got to go. Before sundown-un-
derstand?"
Unblushing and defiant, the girl who
saved, as though to further protect him
from the rest, turned upon Bill John.
IF he goes, then l go too" she threat
ened, knowing full well that every man
In camp was dependent upon her. the
only woman within forty miles.
Kenny, who was a man of action.
lost no time marveling at Katie's un-
expected words. He heard, and a
proud advantage over these rugged, ST.
lent men swelled within him. At the
instant he regained all the bold def
kance of his nature.
LET us CO." be said to her.
81 am ready"
The men who had formed the semi
circle were silent and still no longer.
They gathered round Bill John and
Frisco and voiced their protest against
the girls going. It was unanimous.
81 guess you can stay, Kenny"
Reversing his former decision with
these words, Bill John walked away,
and Katie, laughing In the pride of her
victory, ran back to her kitchen behind
Frisco's saloon. She felt certain that
Kenny would come to her there pres
emily.
Three hours later, when the men who
had formed the semicircle were back
up In the hills and Frisco dozed in a
corner of his saloon and the mining
camp was lifeless and still, the man
sought the woman who had saved his
life.
For more than an hour he had been
cursing himself for a blind fool while
he lay outstretched upon the bunk in
his shack at the foot of the hills.
Any one else, he told himself, would
have known that the girl had loved
him all the while and that, like a wo-
man, she had only pretended Blick had
won her away from him.
But, even though she loved him and
had loved him while he had not known
it, Kenny felt that he owed her a
great debt for what she had done.
She had saved his life. He owed her
that It the very least.
He resolved then that he would de-
vote 1t to her happiness and thought a
little of mending his ways. He would
make 1t all up to her.
At the kitchen he found her. She
was wiping the dishes when he came,
and, resting his elbows on the rough
window sill, he thrust his head and
shoulders inside.
"Katie. that was a mighty big thing