Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1917-06-14
CHAPTER X.
After the Storm.

FOR a week ti& search continued day
ana night. but each day, even each
succeeding hour, reduced the expec.
1ation OF ever seeing De Spain alive.
spies working at Calabasas. others
sent In by Jeffries to Music noun
tam among the Morgans, and men
from Medicine Bend haunting Sleepy
lat could get no word of De Spain.
Deaf Sandusky and Logan had been
louhd dead ut the Inn by Lefever on
the night after the fight. Fairly accu-
rate reports accounted for Gale Nor.
gan nursing a wound ut home, and
Tor SaSsoon, badly wounded and under
cover somewhere in the gap. Beyond
this, information halted.
Toward the end of the week a Next
can sh%eepherder brought word in to
Lefever that he had seen in Duke
MorEan's stable Sassoon's horse-the
one on which De Spain had escaped.
tie averred he had seen the blood
stained Santa Fe saddle that had been
taken off the horse when the horse was
round at ~daybreak Of the day follow
ing the fight, waiting at S~assoon's cor.
raj to be cared for. There could be.
1t was fairly well ascertained, no mis-
take about the horse--the man knew
the animal; but his information threw
no light on the fate Of its missing
rider.
Though Scott had known first of
DE SPANS helpless condition In his
desperate flight, as regarded self-de-
Tense, the Indian was the last to aban-
don hope of seeing him alive again.
One night, in the midst Of u gloomy
council ut J~etfrles' office, he was
pressed for an explanation of his con-
hdence. 1t was always difficult for
Scott to explain his reasons for think.
Ing anything. Men with the surest In.
stihct are usually poorest ut reason
Ing n conviction out. But Bob, cross.
examined and harried, managed to give
some explanation of the faith that was
In him. I'm the first place." he said,
I've ridden a good deal with that
man-pretty much NIL over the coun-
try north of Medicine Bend. He Is as
full of tricks as q nuts full of meat,
Henry de Spain can hide out like an
Indian, and doctor himself. Then,
again, / know something about the
way he fights; up here they don't. II
those four fellows had ever seen him
in action, they never would have ex-
pected to get out Of a room alive. after
Il showdown with Henry de Spain. As
near as l can make out from all the
talk that's floating around, what fooled
them was seeing him shoot at a mark
here one day in Sleepy Cat"
Jeffries didn't interrupt, but he
slapped his knee sharply.
"You might just us well try to stand
on a box Of dynamite, and shoot into
1t. md expect to live to tell It." con.
tinued Scott mildly, "as to shoot into
that fellow in Il room with closed doors
and expect to get away with it. The
only way the bunch can ever kill that
man. without getting killed themselves,
Is to get him from behind; and Mt that,
John. the man that fires the gum" muir.
INJURED the scout, fought to be behind a
tree.
"You say he Is hit. l grant It," he
concluded. "But I knew him once,
when he was hit, to lie out In the bush
for II week. lie got cut OF once from
Whispering Smith and Kennedy after
a scrimmage outside Williams Cache
two years ago."
"You don't believe, then, he's dead,
BobT demanded Jeffrles impatiently.
"Not til I see him dead" persisted
Scott unmoved.
.
De Spain, when he climbed into Sas.
soon's saddle, was losing sight and
consciousness. He knew he could no
longer defend himself. and was 80
faint that only the determination Of
putting Distance between him and any
pursuers held him TO the horse after
he spurred away. With tho instinct Of
the hunted, he fumblcd with his right
hand for his means Of defense, and
was relieved to fnd his revolver, after
his panicky dash for safety, safe In its
place. He put his hand to his belt for
fresh cartridges. The belt was gone.
The discovery sent q shock through
his FILLING faculties. He could not
recollect why he had no belt. Beliey.
Ing his sense trlcked him, he felt
again and agaln for It before he would
believe II wal not buckled somewhere
about him. But It was gone. and he
stuck back In his walstband his useless
revolver. One hope rcmained--aIght.
and he spurred his horse cruelty.
Blood running continually into his
eyes from the wound In his head made
him think his eyes were gone, and dI.
rection was q thing quite beyond his
power Of compass. He made little Of.
fort to guide, and his infuriated horse
! dew along a. Il winged.