Evening star., 1923-09-14

Then he tucked the note carefully
through the hole, letting his fingers
lfnger there awhile before once more
resuming his tiresome chair, where
he sat and waited for the coming of
the sheriff. 1t was dark in the room
and his lamp had not been removed,
he noticed but he feared to light 1T
lest the meager supply Of oil be-
come exhausted before night. In
spite of himself, he still hoped that
the cover of darkness would bring
to him some word from the outside.
The house was strangely still. yet
he knew he was not alone, for the
partition between his room and the
one in which the fire burned felt
warm, and occasionally he heard logs
being thrown on the fire without.
Still no one came near him, and no
one spoke, at least not loud enough
for him to hear.
Little flashes of red light from the
somber Sits of twilight through the
boards on the window, when at last
he heard voices, loud, unrestrained,
from men seemingly in a hurry
Pete had played foot ball in college,
and remembered we'll the feeling that
gripped him when the kick off
whistle blew: He had that feeling
now. as he listened to the voices.
"Sheriffs coming from Moapa to-
night, ell be here bout twelve, 1
/ ks
same voice continues:
Eliot, you got to do a lot more
hiken' yet, tonight"
Then another voice broke in as
though replying to, Eliot, whose
said, TO hell with the fifty thousand
dollars; knew that was bunk But
the bird in here that give you the
bum steer Is worth five thousand
o,errles' c,h' and We're ,gettin in our
claims afore they string I'm"
Before the speaker finished, Pete
Aguin talking.
Hawkins bumped. then2" some one
'SUre, he's bumped" Aiguin grunted.
Bulls been gone four hours already,
/ ought to be back now. Anytime Bull
goes q bumpin' he's sure fire. You
looked everywhere for the fifty, Eliot,
Some one stamped loudly on the
j, door sill, and Pete could not get the
answer. The man stamping was
/ apparently newcomer. and both
Hello. Bull, come In" they called
| together.
Pete heard chairs dragged across
together and were much subdued. He
tiptoed quietly toward the door to
| listen. Halfway across the room
he was stopped short by the move
ment Of something dragging across
with rapid stride he made for the
| lamp and struck q match. Even be-
fore the sudden light fared up his
long-folded envelope, held tightly be-
! tween white fingers, showed in relief
against the ceiling. While Pete
| hesitated moment between lighting
sage, the match flickered and died in
| his hand. without lighting another
he made bound TO tho bed, and
swept the ceiling with his hand. With
his arm circled about wildly for q
/ moment that seemed like an hour
f, before his hand closed hungrily about
the slender fingers. A second might
| fingered while he sent his mute mes
| sage of heartfelt appreciation TO the
messenger. A moment there, a heavy
sigh, and the hands, parted. Pete
hardly had the lamp burning before
! the rustic above died away, and he
knew Tam was gone.
| With frantic haste he examined
the, two missives in his hand. a note
| the note first and read:
They've done away with him, I'm
| going, too. In haste. TAM"
With a pang of remorse that en-
tirely shattered his growing enthus-
iasm he opened the long letter and
withdrew two pictures, and q printed
! slip. Heavy black figures, 13o-666.
| first caught his eye; then the pic
lures. both of James Hogan, alias
Butler Garret, so the legend at the
bottom ran. Turning again to the
| list of crimes, which he carefully
studied before showing the papers
into his pocket.
| Tears dimmed his eyes as he read
and re-read the note. I'm going.
| too" what could that mean? Pete's
face went cold. They've done away
with him" He turned the wick in