The Lamar register., 1920-06-02
toopynsht By Randall Parrish)

tnat weapon. He's over there Deninu
that tree-see the smoke? If the cuss
pokes his mead out. I'll try the virtue
Of this 40; It ought to carry that far.
Hahl there he Is; I made the bark fly.
anyway"
The afternoon wore away slowly,
clearly the nature of the siege. Their
only safety lay in the protection Of
the rocks, as they were now entirely
surrounded. and fired upon from
either hank the moment either raised
head. No attempt was made, how
ever. to assault their position. nor did
they often return the fire, desiring to
preserve for future use their small
supply of ammunition. Brennan re-
mained watchful. but silent. brooding
over his plans for the night, but West
colt became overpowered by fatigue
and slept quietly for several hours.
The sun was already sinking behind
the range Of mountains when he finally
aroused himself. and sat up. Brennan
greeted him with a good-natured grin.
"well. do you feel better. Jlmf" he
asked pleasantly. Thought I'd let you
sleep as long as ! could. for we've got
some job ahead OF us. Sorry thar amt
no breakfast waitin'. fer wouldn't OBJ
ject ter bit o. ham bone myself. l
reckon II Lacy coops me up much long
er he's liable ter win his bet; I'm
plumb near starved out already"
I'm afraid they've got us, Dan"
"Oh, don't know; leastwise l amt
put up no white flag yet. You're
game fer a try at gettin' out o. yere,
amt yer. old mani I've sorter been
reckonin' on yer"
I'll take any chance there is,' re-
turned westcott heartily. staring into
the others face. "Have you some
planf"
Maybe 'tain't that exactly. but I've
been doin' a powerful lot o. thinkin'
since you was asleep. Jim. an reckon
we might beat these fellers with a
fair show o. luck. This is how figure
II out. Thar won't be no attack;
that's a cinch. Lacy knows We can
shoot, an he also knows we're
marooned yere without food. The cas-
lest thing is ter starve us out"
But there are good men In this
camp. law-ablding men," interrupted
the miner. won't they take handr
Maybe they might II I was free ter
get 'em together; but amt. Most o.
'em are out In the mines. anyway I:
they don't know which party is right
In this rumpus, an they amt got no
leader. Lacy runs the town. an he's
got big gang O. toughs behind him.
There amt nobody wants to buck up
against his game. OF course the boys
might get mad after a while, but
reckon we'd be starved plumb ter
death long afore that happened. An
that amt the worst NV II. Jim-the
sheriff is Lacy's man. 1 wouldn't never
dare turn you over ter him-not by
II jugful."
"Then we are blocked at every
turn"
"we sure are. unless we can dig out
ourselves" grnvely. my notion is to
get fair start. drift out into Sho-
shone. whar Wen leave no trail, dn
then hit for over the line"
-On footY'
III. mol amt no such walker
as all that. Come over yere; keep yer
head down; now look out between
these two rocks. Do yer see them
cow-ponles hitched ter the rack along
side o the Red Dog? Well, they've
been thar fer matter o. three hours
I reckon. an their riders aln't liable
ter leave as long as thar's any ex-
citement In town. They're XL men.
ana mostly drunk by this time. It's
my aim ter get leg over one o. them
animals. Here's my scheme, an
reckon it'll work. Naturally Lacy viii
think we'll try to get away-make a
break fer II In the dark. He'll have
both them banks guarded, an ther fel-
fers will have orders ter shoot. He'd
rather have US dead than alive. But.
to my notion, he won't expect us ter
try any getaway before midnight.
Anyhow. that's how I'd figure II was
In his place. But my Idea is to pull
one OF on him, an start the minute
1t gets dark enough so them lads can't
see what's goin' on out yere."
Wen fight our way throughT'
"Not a fight, my son; Wen make
II so softly that not son-of-a-gun will
ever know how It happened. When
they wake up Wen be twenty miles out
I'm the desert an still a goin', Thar'a a