The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1920-11-04

another at the right temple. A bullet
had plowed through the boys skull.
Softly Flandrnu put the head back
In the sand and rose to his feet. The
revolver Of the dead puDcher was In
his hand. The riders were closing in
on him. The nearest called to him to
surrender. Almost ut 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 90 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.
1--WE got him. His guns empty"
some one shouted.
Cautiously they closed In, keeping
him covered all the time. OF 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 IN odd. casual
sort of way Then things cleared.
"He's 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 a
flash 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 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 b" one Of the
men told the boy.
He was ,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 human being to
them; rather wolf to be stamped out
of existence as soon as it was cOnven
lent.
At shift in the group Flandrau's
eyes fell on his friend lying in the
sand with face turned Whitley to the
sky he never would see again. A lumI
came into the boys throat and he hai
to work it down before he spoke.
There's picture in his pocket, ant
some letters, reckon. Send them Il
Miss Myra Anderson. Tombstone. car,
of one Of the restaurants. dom
| know which one"
"Send IlOthin'." sneered Dutch, ant
coupled it with a remark no decen
| man makes of a woman on a guess.
Because Of poor Mac lying ther,
with the little hole in his temple Curl.
boiled over. With jerk his right arm
! was free. 1t shot out like a pill
driver. all HE weight behind the blow
Dutch went down as II q charging bull
had flung him.
Almost simultaneously Curly hit tn,
sand hard. Before he could stir tire,
men were straddled over his anatomy
One of them ground his head into tn
dust.
"You would, Ell? Wen see abou
that. Jake, bring yore rope"
They tied the hands Of the boy
hauled him to his feet, and set hin
astride horse. In the distance
windmill of the Circle c ranch wa
shining In the morning sun. TOwar'
the group of buildings clustered aroun'
this two Of his captors started wit
Flandrau.
i As they rode along fenced Ian
which led to the house girl came fly
ing down the steps. At sight of thos
coming toward her she called GU
quickly:
| "How is dad?" The CULVER of fea
broke in her voice.
| "Don't know yet, Miss Kate" an
swered one of the men. Hes RICH
peart, though. Says for to tell 70
not to worry. We've got here tn
NANCY son of a gun that did it,
/ Before he had finished she was o.
like an arrow shot from bow, bu
not until her eyes had fallen on tn
youth sitting bareheaded and blood
between the guns of his guard. Curl
noticed that she had given shuddel
as one might at sight Of a mangle
mad dog which had just bit dea
friend. Long after the pounding Q
her pony's hOofs had died away tn
prisoner could see the startled eyes 9
fear and horror that had rested o
him.
His guards put Flandrau in the bunl
house and one of them sat at the doc
with a rifle across his knees. The cool
the stable boy, and red-headed Be
Cullison. nephew Of the owner Of tn
ranch, peered past the vaquero at tn
captive with the same awe they woul
have yielded to Gagged panther.
] IxNr-Y u -. 1T Il r..