Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1917-07-05
XIV.
Strategy.

Vic week went ~ EepuIIS. 1O u
mar of action such a week Is longer
than ten years of service. But chained
to a bed in the Sleepy Cat hospital. De
Spain had no escape from n week Of
thinking, and for that week he thought
about Nan Morgan. And the impulse
that moved him the first moment he
could get out Of bed and into a saddle
was to spur his way hard and fast
to her; to make her. against a score
Of burly cousins, his own; and never
to release her from his sudden arms
again.
With De Spain to think was to do;
Mt least to do something, but not with.
out further careful thinking, and not
without anticipating every chance Of
failure. And his manner was to cast
up all difficulties and obstacles in a
situation, brush them aside. and have
his will II the heavens fell and he
now set himself, while doing his rou-
tine work every day, to do one par
ticular thlng--to see. talk to. plead
With. struggle with the woman, or girl,
r~ather-child, even, to his thoughts, so
fragile she was--this girl who had
given him back his life against her
own marauding relatives.
His friends saw that something was
absorbing him in m unusual, even nm
extraordinary way, yet non could ar
rive at a certain conclusion as to what
1t was. The one man in the country
! who could have surmised the situa.
ton between the two-the barn boss,
| McAlpin-if he entertained suspicious,
was far too pawky to share them with
anyone.
When two weeks had passed without
De SPANS having e Nan or having
heard Of her being seen, the conclu-
sion urged itself on him that she was
either Ill or in trouble-perhaps in
trouble for helping him; q moment
later he was laying plans to get into
the gap to find out.
Nothing In the way Of a venture
could be more foolhardy-this he nd.
mltted to Understanding, he con-
soled himself by rejecting, but some
thing stronger than danger could Jus
tify 1t. OF all the motley Morgan fol.
lowing within the mountain fastness
he could count on but one man to help
him In the slightest ~degree-this was
the derelict. Bull Page. There was no
choice but to use him, and he was
easily enlisted. for the Calabasas affair
had made a heroic figure Of De Spain
in the barrooms. De Spain, according.
", lay In wait for the old nan and
intercepted him one day on the road
to Sleepy Cat, walking the twenty
miles patiently for his whisky.
"You must be the only mar In the
gap, Bull, that can't borrow or steal
a horse to ride" remarked De Spain,
stopping him near the river bridge.
Page pushed back the broken brim
Of his hat and looked up. "You
wouldn't believe H." he said, impart
Ing q cheerful confidence. but ter
years ago I had horses to lend to every
man tween here and Thief river" HI
nodded toward Sleepy Cat with .
wrecked smile. and By Q dramati,
chance the broken hat.brin fell with
the words: They've got 'em all."
sYour fault, Bull"
"say" Up went the broken brtm
land the whiskied face lighted with ,
shaking smile. lyon turned some tricl
on that Calabasas crew-some light
Bull chuckled.
"Bull, 10 old Duke Morgan a Repub
licanr
Bull looked surprised at the turn 0
De Spain's question, but answered Il
good faith: "Duke votes most 40,
ticket that's again the railroad"
"How about picking a couple 0
rood barninen over IN the gap, Bull3
"yvhat kind Of a Job y gotfs
"See McAlpin the next time Jour
over at CAlabasas. How about thu
girl that lives with Dukef"
|, Bulls face lighted. "Nanl Bay
? she's q little hummer"
" hear she's zone down to THE
. river, teaching school,"
"Came BY Dukes less'n three hour
arc. Seen her Ia the kitchen fnakii
bread"
*They'rc looking for a schoolteache
down there, anyway. Much slcknesaf
ths zap lately, Bullfs
"On'y sickness I moved lateiy |
what you're responsible foe y'ssi&." =