Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1917-01-18
CHAPTER XIV.

Duane returned to Fairdale and
camped in the mesquite till the twenty
third of the month. The few DAYS
seemed endless. All he could think
of was that the hour in which he must
disgrace Ray LOngstreth was slowly
but inexOrably coming. In that wait,
ing time he learned what love was
and also duty. When the day at last
dawned he rode like one possessed
down the rough slope, hurting stones
and crashing through the bush, with a
sound in his ears that was not all
the rush of the wind. Something drag
ged at him.
Apparently one side of his mind was
unaIterably fixed, while the other was
a hurrying cOnglOmeratiOn Of flashes
of thought, reception OF sensations
lie could net get calmness. BY and by,
almost invOluntarily, he hurried faster
on. Action seemed to make his state
less oppressive; 1t eased the weight
But the farther he went on the harder
1t was to continue. Had he turned his
back upon love, happiness, perhaps on
life itself?
There seemed no use to go on far
Their until he was absolutely sure of
himself. Duane received a clear
warning thought that such work as
seemed haunting and driving him
could never be carried out in the mood
under which he Iabored. He hung on
to that thought. Several times he
slowed up, then stopped, only to go on
again. At length. as he mounted a
low ridge, Fairdale lay bright an.
green before him, not far away, and
the sight was q conclusive check.
There were mosquitoes on the ridge,
and Duane sought the shade beneath
them. 1t was the nOon-hOur. with hot
gaary sun and no wind. Here Duane
had to have out his fight. Duane was
utterly unlike himself; he could not
bring the old self back; he was not
the same man he once had been. But
he could understand why. It was be-
cause of Ray LOngstreth. Temptation
assailed him. To have her his wife
It was impossible The thought was
insidiOusly alluring. Duane pictured
home. He saw himself riding through
the cotton and rice and cane, home to
q stately old mansion, where long
cared hounds bayed him welcome,
and a woman looked for him and met
him with happy and beautiful smiles.
There might-there would be children.
And something new, strange, con-
founding with its emotion, came to life
deep in Duane's heart. There would
kind of life a lonely outcast always
yearned for and never had! He saw
it ALL felt it all.
But beyond and above all other
claims came Captain MacNelly's. It
was then there was something cold and
deathlike in Duane's soul. For he knew
whatever happened, of one thing he
was sure-he would have to kill either
Longstreth or Lawson. Longstreth
might be trapped into arrest; but Law
son had no sense, no control, no fear.
He would snarl like panther and go
for his gun, and he would have to be
killed. This, of all consummations, was
the one to be calculated upon.
Duane came out of it all bitter and
callous and sore-in the most fitting of
moods to undertake a difficult and
deadly enterprise. He had fallen upon
his old, strange, futile dreams, now
rendered poignant by reason Of love.
He drove away those dreams. In their
place came the images Of the olive
skinned Longstreth with his sharp
eyes, and the dark, evil-faced Lawson,
and then returned tenfold more thrill
sion to meet Poggin.
It was about one o'clock when
Duane rode into Fairdale. The streets
for the most part were deserted. He
went directly to find Morton and Zim-
mer. He found them at length, rest
less, somber, anxious, but unaware Of
the part he had played at Ord. They
said Longstreth was home too. It
was possible that Longstreth had ar
rived home In ignorance.
Duane told them to be on hand in
town with their men in case he might
need them, and then with his teeth
locked he set off for Longstreth's
ranch.
Duane strobe through the bushes
and trees, and when nearing the porch
he heard loud, angry, familiar voices.
Longstreth and Lawson were quarrel
ing again. How Duanes lucky star
guided him. He had no plan for &C.
ton but his brain was equal to a
hundred ightning-swift evolutions. He
meant to take any risk rather than
kill Longstreth. Both Of the men were
out on the porch. Duane wormed his
way to the edge Of the shrubbery and
crouched low to watch for his oppor-
tunity.
Longstreth looked haggard and thin.