Beverly banner. [volume] (Beverly, N.J.) 1877-1964, 1925-01-16
CHAPTER II-Continued


whadya t'ink of him. boys?" he de-
manded again of the men, who had
formed a close circle around the pair.
HE don fight an he got de nerve to
say dat II be all to Pierre Cauchon
No, by gar, guess you know better
dan to fight" he continued, adding a
foul epithet; and, grinning, he lurched
insolently past toward the bar, shout
dering Lee as he passed.
He looked back for an instant to
see whether the other would accept
the provocation, and, seeing that he
showed no signs of doing So he went
on his way with Shorty. The crowd
gave Lee the once-over contemptu-
ously. 1t had no love for the bully.
but an individual without the fighting
instinct is not supposed to pose as a
iady's champion and then back down.
The minds of the prospectors were
too obtuse to see that Lee had simply
been satisfied with gaining his point
ana enabling the girl to get away I'M
molested.
Lee paced the stoop for a while,
finished a pipe, and went early to his
blankets.
He interested himself in specializing
who the girl was. She was almost
certainly going to the mission; there
could be no other destination. Perhaps
he would see her again. He thought
of the possibility quite without emo
tion. He ceased to think of her, and,
tired after the days ride, began to
doze.
He was awakened when the men be-
gan to stagger into the parlor. Nearly
all of them were drunk, some were
rolling drunk, and, after sporadic,
noisy alterations. they were soon
sprawled out like logs all over the
floor and snoring loudly. Several
times Lee was obliged to remove
heads, arms, and feet from various
portions Of his anatomy.
He was just falling asleep again
when the sound of name, whispered
almost in his ear startled him into
instant wakefulness.
Lee recognized the voice as that Of
the breed, Pierre Cauchon.
For a moment or two he could not
imagine from where the man was
speaking. Then he discovered that the
voice came from the other side of the
large, empty stove which stood at his
head. little out from the wall. His
face and Pierre's were separated,
therefore, by no more than the cir
conference of the metal container,
though Pierre. of course, did not guess
that Lee lay on the other side of ii,
NOR that he would he likely to have
any particular interest in what he was
saying
But the name that had startled Lee
into wakefulness was that of Pelly.
His subconsciousness, alert through
siumber had caught it and communi-
Gated the warning.
Before Lee had quite attuned his
ears to catch Pierre's remark, Shorty.
the other man, broke in:
"You fool, Pierre. you nearly give
the game away tonight fer shore. You
amt got no sense at all. buttin' in
1ike that and frightenin' her away.
You didn't s'pose she'd got our photy-
CRAFTS in her pocket, did va? The
trouble with you is you CANT hold yer
liquor"
Pierre growled: 81 didn't have no
chanst to say word before that four
fiusher butted in. / wish I'd beat him
up now. Mebbe I'll git the chanst in
the mornin'."
"Well, and why didn't va? I'll tell
va why. Because you saw he amt
no four-fusher He's tough, that fell
Ter is, an he was watchin' va like a
cat. Don't va make no mistake about
that. And it's lucky you didn't get no
chanst to spill what va was goin to, or
you'd shore have scairt the girl away.
"you listen here" he continued
"you keep out of this to-morrer till
she's gone, and then we en- ride hard
and ketch up with her at shutdown and
explain that we're friends of hern"
Their voices became inarticulate.
Lee strained his ears to catch the i'm
port of their conversation, but he
could hear nothing but the low whis-
per of their voices.
"WelI, guess you're right, Shorty"
said Pierre after while. 1--WE got to
see she don't give us de slip, though"
Shorty snickered and whispered
something to which the other clucked
approval.
"She CANT, neither" he said.
There's only one way into the range,
an when we got her there we got her
where we want her"
No more was said. and soon the
snoring from the other side of the
stove Indicated that the pair had sue
cumbed to sleep. But all desire for
sleep was banished from lees brain.
There was the alternative Of two
courses of action: he could warn the
girl in the morning. placing himself at
her disposition; or he could keep her