The Skyland post. [volume] (West Jefferson, N.C.) 193?-1988, 1942-09-03
: -. . BACK DAWN
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That cunning look was in old
Hooker's eyes again. He reached
out for the bottle. Dave inter-
lvened.
II guess you've had enough to
sober up on, pardner," he sug-
gested. why don't you 60 to
lsleep now and take one more
drink when you wake up. That
will set you plumb to rights"
"Must have one more" pleaded
Hooker. 'Then I'll have a good
sleep, and wake up feeling fine.
I won't want another drink after
that. I'm through with liquor
for life. It's just the-the lone
illness, Dave"
He drained the bottle and hand
ed it to Dave. well, that's the
last of it," he leered, $50 you
won't need to worry pardner.
Throw that bottle away some
where where Lois won't find it,
or she'll give me the devil. YOU
We promised me you'll look out
for her if anything happens to me.
And now I'm going to tell you
something I've suspected-some-
thing that's going to solve the
mystery
The sentence was cut off alb
ruptly by the roar of a six-gun.
Smoke and the acrid stencil OF
powder filled the room. Hooker
slipped back upon his pillow, the
sentence uncompleted, and lay
still. Dave saw a little blue spot
on his left temple, from which a
stream of blood was trickling.
Dave whirled, his hand upon
his gun butt. For just an instant
The saw a face at the window, the
face of a masked man. The pane
was open, and the shot had been
fired at a distance of about ten
feet.
Dave drew and fired back al
most upon the instant, but still
too late. The face had already
disappeared, and the slug merely
whined across the mesa, over
which the faintest light of dawn
was just beginning to appear
simultaneously Dave heard the
sound of body scrambllng
through the dense brush at the
rear of the cabin.
j Dave thrust his gun back into
| it's holster and leaped toward the
door. Stopped for an instant,
turned back and looked at Hook
err. The lamp upon the shelf cast
only faint reflection, but it was
light enough for Dave who had
seen death often enough, to real
ize that the old mans days were
ended. Hooker's dream had come
true.
J In another instant Dave wa
through the entrance of the cabir
and running across the mesa II
the direction that the assassin hat
taken. He could still hear hin
crashing through the undergrow
tn, but in the faint light of dawr
Dave wasted half a minute befor'
he could find the trail. By thu
time he had done so, the murder
er had mounted his horse and wa!
galloping away down the mesa.
BY the time Dave could ge
back and mount his bay there
would be not the slightest chance
of capturing the man, who was
now disappearing in the tangled
growth of jackpine tina tseparateo
the upper mesa from the one be-
meath it.
! Nevertheless, Dave ran back
and, mounting his horse bareback
forced it along the trail through
the scrub and galloped to the
lmesa's edge. It was beginning
to grow fairly light, but nothing
was to be seen. The only living
thing was the buzzard, harbinge1
of death, still floating in the up
per currents Of the air.
Wherever the murderer had
gone, he had certainly not riden
down into the valley. He must
have struck some trail in the al
most impenetrable scrub that
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