Lincoln County times. (Jerome, Idaho) 1911-1919, 1917-04-26
81 Hate Him"

He had drawn his revolver from hi:
waistband. He broke it now and hello
il out. Load il for me- Nan"
What do you mean:'
Put four more cartridges in il your.
self. Except for your cartridge. the
gun is empty. When you do that yor
will know none Of them ever will be
used against your own except To pro
tect my life. And If you have any
among them whose life ought 10 come
ahead of mine-name him. or them
now. Do as I tell yOu-load the gun
He took hold of her hands anu. IL
spite of her refusal. made her do his
will. He guided her hand TO draw the
cartridges. on after another. from his
belt and waited for her TO slip them
in the darkness into the empty cyl
inder. to close the breech. and hand
the gun back.
Now. Nan" he said. you know ne.
You may have doubts-they Will all
die. You will hear many stories about
me-but you will say. I put The car
tridges in his revolver with ~ own
hands, and l know he won't sbuse he
means OF defense l gave hin myself
There can never be any real doubts
or misunderstanding between us
again. Nan" He waited for her 10
speak, but she remained silent.
You have given me my life. my de-
tense, he continued, passing from
subject that he perceived was better
left untouched. "Who is nearest and
dearest to you at homer?
MY Uncle Duke"
Then l never will raise a hand
against your Uncle Duke. And this
man, tonight-this cousin-Gale? Nan,
what is that MANI"
II hate him"
Thank God So do II"
But he is a cousin"
"Then 1 suppose he must be one of
mine"
Unless he tries to kill you"
He won't be very long in trying
that. And now. what about yourself?
what have you got 10 defend yourself
against him. and against every other
drunken MANI"
she lald her own pistol without
word in De SPANS hand. He felt IL.
opened, closed, and gave it back.
That's good defender-when it's in
reach. When it's at home it's a poor
one"
1T will never be at home again ex-
cept when I am"
shall tell you a secret?"
What is it?' asked Nan unsuspect-
ingly.
I'VE are engaged to be married"
She sprang from him like q deer. ITS
dead secret" he said gravely; mo-
body knows it yet-not even YOU"
You need never talk again like
that If you want to be friends with
me, she said Indignantly. II hate
it"
Hate 1t If you will; it's so. And
1t began when you handed me thad
little bit of lead and brass on the
mountain tonight, to defend your life
and NINE"
I'll hate you If you prosecute me
the way Gale does. The moon Is
almost up. You must CO."
You haven't told me-" he persisted.
now you got away at ALL" They had
walked out of the trees. He looked
reluctantly 10 the east. "Tell me and
Ill GO he promised.
After l went up to my room I watt
ed till the house was all quiet. Then
started for Calabasas. When came
back | got up to my room without be,
Ing seen, and sat at the window a long
time. l waited till all the men stopped
riding past. Then I climbed through
the window and down the kitchen roof,
ana let myself down to the ground.
Some more men came past, and 1 hid
on the porch and slipped over to the
morse barns and found a hackamore,
ana went down to the corral and hunt
ed around till | found this little pinto
she's the best to ride bareback"
Il could ride a razorback-why take
all that trouble for me?"