The Mellette County pioneer. [volume] (Wood, Mellette County, S.D.) 19??-1971, 1921-12-02
CHAPTER xIII-Continued.

awake and on guard until midnight,
and the other was to go on duty from
midnight until dawn. The second
watch, with which was the factions
leader, had a nightcap Of the vitriolic,
whisky, flung itself sprawling on the
ground and straightway went to sleep.
The first watch sat around the
cracking ~brushwood fire and played
cards for chews Of tobacco, cartridges
and pocket knives, sang strange and
o%utlandish songs and drank more
whisky. One very drunk Torrey gam
bled away all his tobacco, all his cart
ridges, his knife, his rifle and his belt,
his coat and his hat, his boots and his
shirt-and offered to bet his trousers
and his ears on the turn Of a single
card! 1t was funny, and 1t was dis
gusting, too. 1t was all the work Of
whisky, which Bill Dale had always
hated because 1t made men fools, made
them mouth their secrets and made
them commit murder.
After soS.e two hours Of these worse
than h~acchanalian orgies the first
watch, heavy with drink, stopped play
ang cards and singing OutlandiSh
songs, forgot all orders and began to
nod. Then 1t was that Dale thought
OF the man who had been his faithful
guardian for many days, the lanky
BY Heck. Why hadn't he thought Of
Heck before? He wondered II Heck
had followed him to the trap, II Heck
was near him even then, If Heck had
gone for help.
BY Heck had not followed Bill Dale
to the little basin. But he had fol-
lowed Henderson Golf, and Henderson
Gof had followed Dale to the little
basin. Golf had returned to the Big
Pine Mountain country only that day
and he knew nothing Of the plans Of
the Ball-Torrey faction until he wit
messed the mockery Of a trial. Golf
was now crouching In the darkness on
the low line Of cliffs to the eastward
from the walnut tree; and not far
behind him, we'll hidden in the black
~laurels, watching him and watching
Bill Dale, crouched BY Heck.
Dale's guardian had not gone for
help, because he feared to leave Dale
utterly unprotected In the hands Of
the gang Of cutthroats. IJe believed
that he could rescue Dale himself.
When the first watch became a little
more drowsy, he would steal up be-
hind the tree and cut the cotton rope.
Then he realized that Golf had dis
appeared entirely. He crept forward
silently, his eyes alert, and a moment
later he saw Golf stealing toward the
walnut tree. He climbed nOiselesSly
down over the face of the cliff and
followed Golf like a shadow. When
GOfr's hands touched the tree, BY Heck
was within ten feet Of 1t. Heck made
sure his rifle was ready and took an
other step forward, watching, listen
ing.
The shyster coal man leaned around
the tree to the left. In the glow Of
the l~ow-burned fire the blade of a
small knife in his hand cleaned dull
red. He whispered cautiously:
you're In a TX, Dale. And It's
none of my doing, either. Give me
your word that I'll get that coal prop
erty for fifteen thousand, and I'll slash
the rope. How about 1t? Sick Of
this country, aren't your"
There came a few seconds Of silence
save for the lusty snoring of the sleep
ers and the musical tinkle Of the little
creek, after which Golf muttered dis
appolntedly:
"Well, then, hang!"
And Heck knew that Dare had re-
fused to sell the Moreland coal for a
song ever to save his life. AS Golf
stepped backward, the muzzle Of the
tall hillman's rifle went against the
small of his back, and the tall hillman
whispered hoarsely, through teeth
tightly c%lenched:
"Slash at rope. d-n yore soul !
Slash at rope, or I wisht l may drap
dead eff I don't shoot yore backbone
into four thousand pieces, igod! Slash
I'll"
Goff Strengthened in surprise. The
rifles muzzle went harder against his
back and he knew 1t for exactly what
1t was. He moved a hand upward,
then downward and the cotton rope
was severed in half a dozen places.
"Stiddy thar, now!" whispered BY
Heck, and he began to back away.
~Come along WI me, We dadslatted,
Oanjer-bellied skunk. Bill he'll foller."
The three Of them hurried into the
deeper shadows. Soon Heck halted
Golf and turned to Dale.
"S'arch him TO a gun. Bill, old boy"
Dale lifted from Henderson COTS
r1ght-hand coat-pocket a blued and
stub-nosed magazine pistol.
Dang my eyes and blast my for
card" ceck exclaimed in a muf1ed
voice. Hes plumb death on them
little popguns, amt he? Say, Golf,
II ever we shoots me with a thing like
that and ! find 1t out, DANCED eff / don't
spank We ontel yore nose bloods; Now,
b.,c co vn,,,,pa And ~ va iaCk chaan