The Lamar register., 1920-01-14
William Macleod Rdine

soundness OF healtny YOUTH tut 'he
time they forgot their troubles. Neither
OF them knew that as the hours slipped
away red tragedy was galloping closer
to them.
The sun was shining In his face
when Curly wakened. He sat up and
rubbed his eyes. Mac was nowhere In
sight. Probably he had gone to get the
horses.
A sound broke the stiffness of the
desert. Flandrau lenped to his feet.
and at the same instant Mac came
running over the brow of the hill.
smoking revolver WAS In his hand
From behind the hill a gun cracked
then secondhand a third. Mac
stumbled over his feet and pitched
forward full length on the ground. His
friend ran toward him. forgetting the
revolver that lay in its holster under
the live oak. Every moment he er-
pected to see Mac jump up. but the fig-
ure stretched beside the cholla never
moved. Flandrau felt the muscles
round his heart tighten. He had seen
sudden death before. but never had II
come SO near home.
A bullet sent up a squirt Of dust Ia
front OF him. another just on the left.
Riders were making a half circle
around the knoll and closing In on him.
In his right mind Curly would have
been properly frightened. But now he
thought only OF Mac lying there so still
in the sand Right into the fire zone
he ran. kneh beside his partner and
lifted the red-thatched head. A little
hole showed back of the left ear and
anutncr AT the right temple. a Dun~,
had plowed through the boys skull.
Softly Flnndrnu put The head back
In the sand and rose to his feet. The
revolver Of the dead puncher was In
his hand. The riders were closing IN
on him. The nearest called TO him to
surrender. Almost at the same time
a red-hot pain shot through the left
arm OF the trapped rustler. Someone
had nIpped him from the rear.
Curly saw red. Surrender moth
ingl He would go down fighting. As
fast as he could blaze he emptied
Macs gun. When the smoke cleared
the man who had ordered him to give
up was slipping from his horse. Curly
was surprised, but he knew lie must
have hit him by chance.
I'VE got him. His guns empty
some one shouted
Cautiously they closed In. keeping
him covered all the time. or sudden
the plain tilted up to meet the sky.
Flandrau felt himself swayinr on his
feet. Everything went black. The
boy had tainted.
When he came to himself strange
faces were all around him and there
were no bodies TO 60 with them. They
seemed to rost about In an odd. casual
sort OF way. Then things cleared.
Hes coming to all right" one said.
How is Culisonf"
This was said to another who had
just come up.
Hard hit. Looks about all In. Got
him IN the side"
The rage died out OF Curly. In a
Hash he saw all that had come Of this
drunken spree: the rustling Of the
Bar Double NJ stock, the discovery.
the death OF his friend and maybe OF
Cullison. the certain punishment that
would follow. He was n horse thief
caught almost In the act. Perhaps he
was II murderer. too. And the whole
thing had been entirely unpremedi-
tated
You've played h" one Of the
men told the boy.
He was q sawed-off little fellow
known as Dutch. Flandrau had seen
him in the Map of Texas country q
year or two before. The rest were
strangers to the boy. All of them
looked at him out OF hard, hostile eyes
He was scarcely q human being to
them: rather wolf TO be stamped oui
of existence as soon as II WAS conven
lent.
At shift in the group Flaii,irau''
eyes fell ON his friend lying in III,
sand with face turned whitley to thu
sky he never would see again. A luinI
came into the boys throat and he ha,
to work 1t down before he spoke.
There's a picture In his pocket. aud
some letters, 1 reckon. Send them I,
Miss Myrs Anderson, Tombstone. care
OF one Of the restaurants. don't
know which one"
"Send nothin'." sneered Dutch. and
coupled II with a remark no decent
man makes of a woman on guess
Because of psor Mac lying there