Evening star., 1928-05-20

gage you'll know It's the signal. You
Kin reckon fer yourself the time it'll
take fer us to git In here"
"rhen yore ridin' with emp"
"1ll have to, probably But I'll t. c
care o. myself-you leave that to me-.
"Yaas, I dare say yo' WILL"
"If 1t hadn't been fer Hal Stranger
/ could o. had"
"Yo' said that before. The business
is finished. Goo'by"
Kelsey would have fingered and reas-
: sured himself by repetition OF details
but the colonel's hostility made visiting
unpleasant.
TT sure beats ALL" was the colonels
comment as we watched Kelsey cross
the culvert on his way out OF town
''how many human skunks there are IN
the world"
you'll really keep your promise about
squaring up his account If he plays
Judas?" / mused grimly.
"Yaas." said the colonel with equal
grimness, "if the skunk plays Judas.
I'll keep my promise about squaring the
account"
decided to stop over in Mercer. ]
wanted to visit the BatSon mine. Like
wise, IL I had been precipitated into the
III bklC 0AA6ASA AS@Sst
I wanted to witness its denouement.
Col. Stedman would not hear of my
lodging in the one pine-board hotel: !
must come out to his house and make
the acquaintance of his wife. Mother, y
he called her. She had come from
Connecticut originally. and had never
gone back to the New England OF her
girlhood.
THE Stedmans lived in a rambling
house on the east side of Mercer.
It's interior was darkened and smelled
of crushed fiowers--the funeral odor
Though they had daughter, in school
in southern California. the loss of the
only son had hit the old couple hard.
Yet, after the fashion of sturdy pio-
neers, Mother Stedman repressed her
grief and scarcely alluded to the murder
during my three-day stay. Like her
husband, she was stalwart, deadly capa-
BILE. Her hair was almost white: her
face was bronzed, with many deep fur
rows; her hands were gnarled with hard
work and rheumatism. Still, the woman
was a fighter. in maternal. grim Tipped
way. She wiped her hands on her
broad gingham apron and greeted me as
SilC AAu0 MAiOWlk AllG bAWaySs
Which I quickly wished she had.
We talked New England most of that
first evening, and the colonel made no
reference to KelSey's visit of that after-
noon. Next day Mother Stedman went
with us while we visited the mine. I
found she knew as much about mining
as her husband. Dairy. the dead boy.
had been superintendent of the prop
erty.
/ fretted with the heat-and strain of
waiting for dramatic events to happen.
I discovered the young clerk in the drug
store across from the bank had come
from New Jersey. He had travelled as a
salesman through the East and knew
people in Vermont with whom I was
acquainted.
THE whole towns waiting for trouble
to start" he told me. THE feud dates
back to the old cattle war. The colonel
was sheriff and had to throw the
Strangers off water hole they'd
grabbed Old Chet claimed the colonel
was in with the owners, and they shot
1t out over to Calico. Hal Stranger
took the oath to get the colonel in con-
sequence. He tried it twice, and the
colonel's Juggling around one of Halls
bullets now-the calf of one leg. Then
Hal shot a chap over the oldest Page
girl, and the colonel had TO go bring
him in. He did. Evidence came out at
the trial that all the Strangers had
been mixed up with a mail robbery on
the Santa Fe, and 1t was young Darry's
testimony that sent the prisoner to
Leavenworth, while the other brothers
scattered into the desert. We've known
for quite a spell that all the Stranger
boys were only waiting for the Oldest
brother to get QUITO lead them. Every
body accepts it was them that got
Dairy. And the old mans next"
How about this Pres KelSey?"
oh he's a low-down bum who'd sell
his dead mother for her hair. Some say
pulled off that Sante Fe haul. doubt
1t. He wouldn't have the nerve. Not
even to hold the horses
Il X -
7 HAD arrived in Mercer on a Tues
day. The attack on Col. Stedman's
bank happened at ii:45 O'Clock on the
following Thursday.
I was returning afoot from visit to
the Batson mine when ! saw ahead of
me q small group Of horsemen. They
were cantering along in knot, the
center of generous dust cloud. All
were QEeSSGu III the khuuy CiOlueS ui
cowmen on a holiday--big white hats,
brilliant silk shirts. scarlet kerchiefs.
Their horses were foam fiecked; they
had apparently been running. failed
to connect them with the feud until one
horse tagging behind, became a bit un-
manageable and wheeled.
/ recognized Pres Kelsey.
Were they the Strangers? For an
instant / was panic-stricken. / had
vague feeling of shame--of self-indict-
ment. The colonel was my host. Some
how, II he were threatened, my place
was with him. l had never handled a
gun. What practical use / could be to
him was indefinite. Yet while the sor-
tie of riders was only few hundred
feet ahead ! broke into q run.
The group clattered over the culvert.
The bank stood on the southwest corner
Of two intersecting streets. both ending
In desert. Its main door opened diac-
onally upon the intersection. The horse
men rode directly for it, seeming to fan
out and occupy the closed space In the
heart of that tiny business section.
There were nine in the party. in
cluding Kelsey. Three kept to their
saddles Wheeling, they commanded