The Washington times., 1918-12-08

and hunted step.
Billy had always had his pleas
ure with a gun in his hand until
these wondrous twelve months OF
his knowledge of Rudy. That that
slight person had no acquaintance
with the manner of his former life
was due to the respect in which
Billy held her. For himself, he
couldn't get rid Of troublesome
pride which he called up the men
the brakemen and engineers and
inflated conductors - who had
backed away from the steel-ringed
mouth of his Colt, his Betty. And
the brakemen and engineers and
inflated. conductors who hadn't
backed away, and whom Betty had
spat at, gave him almost more
pride than the treasures he had
borne on from under their bodies.
But a man must be capering to
more than one tune II he's to dance
in the open all of his life, so Billy
had been giving his later days to
the panning for gold in secluded
spots In the California Sierras; and
the first Sunday that he had lent
to the village and set apart for the
play had been taken by Rudy! He
remembered 1t all very clearly. He
had been 30 careful to shave. Men
must remember q moustache OF
straw color that brought out the
steel in his small gray eyes. He
had not changed his working dress,
for a knife slips down a yawninS
bootleg and a flannel shirt yields
best to ones muscles in motion.
It had seemed TO him queer that
the street was so empty. Only &C.
casional men swung in and out Of
saloon doors, and the rival hotel
chairs rested wholly idle. But 1t
was not long before he found the
cause. A little paint-blistered
church sat around the corner and
its open doors had swallowed al
most the entire populace. II
seemed waiting for more while the
thin notes of its rejoicing bell
chased each other out on the air.
Service must have been about to
begin, for there was only a girl
standing out on the steps, and the
horses in ranks along the fences,
who slept or brushed flies or hated
their neighbors, as their natures
gave impulse. Billy, sent the place.
over to a hotter climate and turned
on his heel to shake on its dust
Just as the restless eyes of a high
headed roam brought him to a halt.
1t was then that he had heard a.
voice he felt he would never forget.
There is ROOM" 1t called.
Billy Owen had gone on looking
over the roam. He was not the
man to waste Sunday in church.
Fathers to preach on fighting"
he heard 1t again. There are
fights that he stands by"
1t was a voice, Billy thought, the
bees would look for. He threw her
a glance that shouldn't reveal any
weakness for the sort of blood-spill-
ing that the parson approved of.
and straightway forgot to look of
again. Rudy Field was smiling at
him, and Rudy was radiant with
the spirit of welLdoing. The bells
noisy excitement had given way to
the voices of the people in an open
ing hymn of thanksgiving, and the
girl hurried on the steps, passed
the horses, and laid her hand on
his arm.
HE says men ought to break
each others noses If there's cause;
but it's the cause" she added preg-
nantly, turning her eyes away
toward the church.
"If two men want to get up and
fight just for the pleasure of fight
In" said Billy. "and are glad to
shake hands when one of 'em is
hollerin'?"
Rudy's gentle eyes gave out their
inspiration.
Come and see If he'll say" she
said. And Billy went to his I'M
doing. 1t was never clear to him
what the parsons fighting views
really were. There must have gone
through them fiber of good sort,
because he remembered the noisy
approval Of his fellowmen. AS for
himself, a straight little form and
a thin little face, with a voice sing
ing up to the angels, left no con-
seriousness Of judicial sort. After
the last rousing hymn and the dig
nifty Of the benediction, he had sat
so still that the church was empty
ing and the parson was up to him.
And the day lad taken wings
Billy found through the hours OF
his lonely working that there was
something In. his mind supplanting
Betty and the bodies which were
testimony of mis- prowess and his
power-a something which could
not have borne the revelation of
Betty and the corpses. But the
very instinct that had brought
pride and lust of them to Billy was
not alive to a shame that threw
them over altogether. In thu
subtleness Of conquest they were
not the Useful weapons.
Rudy's father had been Rudys
life. and she lay awake in the night
now, because a man strong in his
youth and the power Of his love
was coming between them. The
atmosphere of her training had left
her without the protection Of sus-
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