The Mellette County pioneer. [volume] (Wood, Mellette County, S.D.) 19??-1971, 1921-04-08

amt done nuthin' TO make either one
Of yer decent ter me. / thought Shelby
here was deader'n a doornail. an ]
reckon you know what l was amin
ter do with you. There amt no use
beatin' about the bush. So now, what'd
yer do IL for?'
Shelby's hand reached out and
touched that Of his wife.
Wei, Kid, I'll tell you" he said
frankly, I'VE did It for Pancha."
Macklin grinned grimly, exposing
mis- teeth.
II reckoned that was bout the
truth" he said recklessly. But I'll
tell yer one thing-Pancha's never
goin' ter get back before I slide out.
/ got what's comm to me, an there
amt no doc ever goin' ter hold me
back from goin'-that's straight Of
man."
I'm not so sure Kid
swell, / am. Lord, q man gen
orally knows when he's got his dose,
/ reckon an 1t amt goin' ter do no
body no good fer me ter keep my lips
shut. Say. lady. you let your nan put
his shoulder back O. me, an hoist me
up higher. There, now maybe l can
get this thing Off my chest"
"You want to explain something's"
Sure; didn't / tell you. l amt
goin' ter leave this game wide open
fer Indian Joe to cash In on. You been
decent to me, an I'll play white as
can"
He spoke slow, hesitatingly, as
though his mind wandered, stopping
every moment or two for breath. Once
he coughed sharply, an expression of
pain on his face. but he went grimly
on.
I'D been on considerable Of q bat
down there, an was soberin' Up. You
know the Custer houser"
"Yes; the old hotel"
well, II amt no palace; you could
throw a cat through them partitions
In places; an I woke up TO hear a
couple o guys talkin' In the next room.
Furst ! didn't care what they was say
in, an then I begun to take an inter
est. Seems one Of 'em was a lawyer
from Kansas City, or Omaha an the
other gazabo was a rich guy from
down East, who was huntin' a niece
who had disappeared out In this coun-
try-the name was Churchill"
as your name Churchill"
"Minel Not In a thousand years.
That was all a lie. Well, as near as
I could get hold Of the story, this we're
girls mother was nursin' in Richmond
durln' the war, an fell in love with a
Yank an married him. She never
know'd she was no heiress, an didn't
dare 90 home cause she'd married a
Yank. Her people didn't get on to 1t
for a long while, an then, l reckon,
they didn't get the story straight.
Maybe they didn't try very hard
anyhow she'd dropped plum outer
sight. Later they found out somehow
that she'd married a regular army Off
Ger, named Carlyn, an gone West with
him. I dunno just what delayed 'em
after that, but afore they got these
folks located the woman died, leavin'
a little girl, an her husband-he was
a colonel by that time-put her into a
Catholic school. Meanwhile, the colo.
mel got on to some extent, an began
to make inquiries down East; but, be-
fore he accomplished much, he got
mixed up M night in a street fight
down In Sheridan, an would bave
been killed If It hadn't been for a ser.
geant he had with him named Cal
kins. He got him home alive, but he
croaked later. That left the kid alone
at school, but these folks didn't know
where"
ut was In st. Louis"
"Sure, they found out later, but by
that time she'd gone. This we're old
| sergeant, Calkins, had come with a