The Red Cloud chief., 1917-10-25
CHAPTER xxvii--continued.

that was going around about his be-
Ing an escaped convict, or something
Of that sort? 1t gets It's local color
this morning. There's n sheriff here
from back East somewhere-cnme In
on the early train; names Macauley,
and he's got the requlsltion papers.
But Smiths fooled him good and
plenty"
Again the chorus united In an enger
query.
"How2"
"He died last night-a little past
midnight. They say they're going to
bury him out at the damon the job
that he pulled through and stood on
Its feet. One of williams quarrymen
drifted In with the story just a little
while ago. I'm here to bet you even
money that the whole town goes to
the funeral"
"Great gosh. !" said the man who
was %crunching the burnt bacon. "Say,
that's tough, Bixby! / don't care what
he'd run away from back East; he
was a man, right. Harding has been
telling everybody how Smith wouldn't
let the posse open fire on that gang
Of hOid-ups last Friday night; how he
chased across on the dam stagings
alone and unarmed to try to serve the
warrants on 'em and make 'em stop
firing. 1t was glorious, but 1t wasn't
war"
To this the other mining man added
n hard word. "Dend," he grltted;
"and only q few hours earlier the girl
had taken snap judgment on him and
married somebody else! That's the
woman Of It'll"
"Oh, hold on, Stryker," the ranch
broker protested. "DOn't you get too
fierce about that. There are two
strings to that bow, and the longest
and sOrriest one runs out to Colonel
Baldwin's place on Little creek. I'm
thinking. The Richlander business
was only an incident. Stanton told
me that much"
As the event proved, the seller Of
ranch lands would have lost his bet on
the funeral attendance. For some I'M
known reason the notice Of Smiths
death did not appear In the afternoon
papers, and only q few people went out
in autos to see the coffin lowered by
Williams workmen into a grave on
the mesa behind the construction
camp; a grave among others where
the victims Of an early industrial ac-
cident at the dam had been buried.
, Those who went out from town came
back rather scandalized. There had
been a most h~ard-hearted lack Of the
common formallties, they said; a
cheap coffin, no minister, no mourners,
not even the poor fellows business
associates In the company he had
fought 30 hard to save from defeat and
extinction. It was q shame!
With this report passing from lip to
lip In Brewster, another bit of gossip
to tire effect that Starbuck and Still
ings had gone East with the disap-
pointed sheriff, ito clear Smiths mem
ory," as the street-talk had 1t, called
forth no little comment. In the Hophrs
House cafe on the evening Of the
funeral day Stryker, the mining spec
ulAtor. was loud In his criticisms Of
n High Line people.
"Yesv" no rallied; "a couple Of zen
will 60 on a junketing trip East t.
clear his memory after they've le
their 'wOps' at the dam bury him like
q yellow dOgl And this RichlandeI
woman; they say she'd known hin
ever since he and she were schoo
kids together; she went down ant
took the train with her father Jus
about the time they were planting tn,
poor devil"
Three weeks Of the matchless Au
gust weather had slipped by withou
incident other than the indictment b
the grand jury of Crawford Stanton
Barney M'Graw. and q number of OIL
srs on O charge Of conspiracy; an
Williams, unmolested since the nlgf
Of the grand battle In which Sheri'
Harding had figured as the master
the hunt, had completed the gret
ditch system and was installing I'll
machinery In the lately finished pow'
house.
Over the hills from the norther
mountain boundary of the TimanyoI
p wandering prospector had come wit
a vague tale of a new strike In Sunri.
Gulch, a placer district worked OF
and abandoned twenty years earlier
the height Of the Red Butte excit
ment. Questioned closely, the tai
bringer confessed that he had no pro
positive Of the strike; but In the hill
he had found a well-worn trail, late
used, leading to the old camp, al
from one of the deserted cabins
the gulch he had seen smoke arisin
AS to the fact OF the trail the wa
dering tale-bearer was not at fau
On the most perfect Of the late-i
August mornings q young woman, eli
in serviceable khaki, and keeping h
cowboy %headgear and buff top-boots
good countenance by riding astride
49, 49,