Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1920-03-11
In his right mind curry wou1u nave
been properly frightened. But now he

been properly frightened. But now he
thought only of Mac lying there SO still
in the sand. Right into the fire zon
he ran, knelt beside his partner and
lifted the red-thatched head. a little
hole showed back of the left ear and
another at the right temple. A bullet
had plowed through the boys skull.
Softly Flandrau 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
ing! 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 he must
have hit him by chance.
eve got him. His guns empty"
some one shouted.
Cautiously they closed in, keeping
him covered all the time. Of a sudden
the plain tilted up to meet the sky.
Flandrau felt himself swaying 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 go with them. They
seemed to float about in an odd, casual
sort of way. Then things cleared.
Hes coming to all right" one said.
"How is Cullison?"
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 d
flash he saw all that had come Of this
drunken spree: the rustling Of the
Bar Double M stock, the discovery,
the death of his friend and maybe of
Cullison, the certain punishment that
would follow, He was a horse thief
caught almost in the act. Perhaps he
was a murderer, too. And the whole
thing had been entirely unpremedi:
tated.
you've played h." one Of the
men told the boy.
He was a sawed-off little fellow
known as Dutch. Flandrau had seen
him in the Map of Texas country a
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 a human being to
them; rather a wolf to be stamped out
Of existence as soon as it was conven-
lent.
At a shift in the group Flafdrau's
eyes fell on his friend lying in the
sand with face turned Whitley to the
sky he never would see again. A lump
came into the boys throat and he had
to work it down before he spoke.
There's a picture in his pocket, and
some letters, I reckon. Send them to
Miss Myra Anderson, Tombstone, car
of one Of the restaurants. 1 don't
know which one."
Send nOthin'," sneered Dutch, and
coupled it with a remark no decent
man makes of a woman on a guess.
Because of poor Mac lying there
with the little hole in his temple Curly
boiled over. With a jerk his right arm
was free. 1t shot out like g. pile
driver, all his weight behind the blow.
Dutch went dow as if a charging bull
had flung him.
Almost simultaneously Curly hit the
sand hard. Before he could stir three
men were straddled over his anatomy.
One of them ground his head into the
dust.
CONTINUED next week.
atn0uocK.-At II recent meeting VI
the Commercial club, 0. +. Larson was
elected president.