Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1917-01-04
flask far out into the crowu.
70 a question Crawford sh

and that l shall meet you all in the
lowest pit of hell" he snarled.
Morton kept a stubborn and rather
dignified silence. Catlin alternately
pleaded and wept. Jules answered
Danny's question:
Sure thing! Pull off my boots for
me. l don't want it to get back to
np old mother that I died with my
boots IN"
III silence and gravcly this ridicu-
ious request was complied With. The
crowd. very attentive. heaved and
stirred. The desperadoes, s%houldering
their way here and there, were finding
each other out. were gathering in lit
tie groups.
They'll try a rescue" whispered the
nan next to me.
Men" Danny's voice rang out, clear
and menacing. edo your duty"
At the words across the silence the
click of gunlocks was heard as the
vigilantes levcled their weapons at the
crowd. From my position neal the
condemned men ] could see the shrift-
ing components of the mob freeze to
immobility before the menace of those
barrels. At the same instant the man
who had been appointed executioncr
ierked the box from beneath Catlin's
feet.
There goes one muttered Charley.
81 hope forked lightning will strike
every strangling''- yelled Crawford.
His speech was abruptly cut short as
the box spun from under his feet.
"Kick away, old fellow" said Scar
face Charley. "Mc next. I'll be with
you in a minute. Every man for his
principles! Hurrah for crime! Let her
-.ip!' And without waiting for The ex-
ccutioner he himself kicked the sup
port away.
Morton died without a sign. Catlin
at the last suddenly calmed and met
his fate bravely.
Before the lull resulting from the
execution and the threat Of the pre-
scented weapons could break Danny
Randall spoke up.
"Gentlemen,' he called clearly, "the
roster Of the v%igilantes is open! Such
of you as please to join the association
for the preservation of decency, law
and order in this camp can now
do so"
The guard lowered their arms and
moved to n side. The crowd SWept
forward. In the cabin the applicants
were admitted Il few at Il time. Be
fore noon VIC had 400 mon on our rolls.
Some of the boldcr roughs ventured a
few threats. but were speedily over
nWed. The community had found it.
self and was no longer afraid.
No sooner had this radical cleanup
OF the bo,lT polite been contaminated
than the rains began. That means
little to any but ii Californian. TO
him it means everything. We We're
quite new 10 the climate and the ON
ditionS, 50 that the whole thing was q
great surprise.
For four days it rained steadily.
The morning Of the fifth day broke
daZzlingly clear. The Sky looked bur-
nished as Il blue jewel; the sunlight
glittered like shimmcring metal; dis
tant objects stood out plain cut, with
out atmosphere. For the first time we
felt encouraged to dare that awful
mud and 50 stopped over to town.
We found the place fairly drowned
out. No II in his first year thought
Of building for the weather. Barnes
hotel. the Empire and the Bella Union
mad come through without shipping a
drop. for they had been erected by
men with experience in the California
climate, but almost everybody else had
been leaked upon a-plenty. And the
deep dust Of the travel worn overland
had turned into a moras beyond
belief or description.
Our first intimation of a definite sea-
sonal change came from our old friend
Danny Randall, who hailed us at once
when he saw us picking our way gin
gerly along the edge of the street. In
answer to his we entered
the Bella Union.
IL hope you boys weren't quite
drowned out" he greeted us. "You
don't look particularly careTorn."
we exchanged the appropriate COM
ments: then Danny came at once to
business.
"Now I'm going to pay off you three
boys" he told the express messengers,
land l want to know what you want.
l can give you the dust. or I can give
you an order on a San Francisco firm.
just as you choose"
Express business busted?" asked
Johnny.
Its quit for the season. Danny
Randall told him, "like everything
else. In two weeks at most there
won't be q score of mel left in Italian
Bar" He observed our astonished in
credulity, smiled and continued: "You
boys came from the east, where it
rains and gets over it. But out here
1t doesn't get owe it. Have you been
down to look at the river? No? Well,
you'd better take a look. There'l be
no more bar mining done there for
awhile. And what's u mining camp
without mining? Go talk to the men
~ a.