| Show n r-c- r 1 i-A i jI l 0 a 1 Or ii f w. w F r y s1 i 7 r I It I r f X rr t 7 1 rI J 0 r 4 C J t 1 f kii i t o ij I Jr 4 wT t I tf c j t r Z I j A t on n The e Last ast Trait rai R Pur rt hes I r It is true tree that cutting off ort the hands IF of oC a Baxter Batter Street Stroet clothier deprives what argument arGument ar ar- argument him bim of all power of speech be he expected to en en- cowboy can Cin a a. Lorca if it you take awa away his arms me The short sharp bark hark of oC his pistol always faithful and vicious as a at hand quick watchdog is tho the colleague of or his tation It is the italics the exclamation point joint the conclusion of or his syllogistic premises and the tho umpire of or his debate dl This at least is the tile case with the tho very settlements lle newest esl and roughest Western Vestern Rapid City the city being the star at which the tho townspeople aimed rather than an nn index of or population Rapid population Rapid City was an e extreme example of ot these picturesque but unwholesome un holesome communities The alarming rate death indeed managed to secure the to town n a a. certain amount of or free advertising but even this was of at a n. sort th that t tended to Induce less immigration than emigration The painful realization of this latter un un- poetic truth compelled th the local marshal to Issue a a. reluctant edict forbidding man woman child chUd or broncho to pack a gun within the vague limits of ot the tho city He Hew w was was s not blind to the heroic po poetry try of or staking taking a life Ute on a tiny bullet or the dramatic Justice of ot an appeal to arms but he was there thero primarily to serve tho the municipal advantage So he nailed up his hia manifesto with manifesto with the tho revolutionary effect of Luthers Luther's theses To the punchers cow the act looked like Uke trespass upon personal liberty Most of thorn thom asked with true Athenian spirit what hat was the real use uso of ot a simple democracy If it a man couldn't take care of himself and keep other similar fools off oft his range also One or two of ot the more sedate and learned held that the Marshals Marshal's ultimatum was Few of them had much Idea as to the exact content of the sonorous term has any anyone anyone anyone one 7 but It plainly put the Marshal In a abad abad abad bad light J Yet none nODe of the blooming rank protests fruited Into active resistance A pistol inthe In Inthe inthe the surfeited sensation mind of the cowpuncher cowpuncher cowpuncher cow cow- puncher is a a. mere personal ornament and anda a gaudy toy or a lightning despot des- des pot whose decisions are both terrible and Irrevocable irrevocable entirely entirely according to the man administering It Now the present Incumbent of ot the mary mar mar- of Rapid City had won won on his exalted position t s solely because no and on on could re re- call caU a 8 time when he had been either dilatory dilatory dila dUa- tory for a a. fatal mom moment nt or Inaccurate for foran foran foran an effective breadth hairs In his manipulation lation on of that product of the American desire for quick results So the punchers cow took out their revenge in oaths and threats against the next election and from the very day after after atter af at- ter the edict the place of ot the pistol knew it no more Men had a a. halt halt-cl half clad d look and anda a naked defenseless feeling without their customary armament Many a hand ran back lack to an unresponsive belt and quarrels Rent ent tame and all unsatisfactory lory How was was was' wasa a man to prove rove his hia ownership of f fan an over over boiling boiling pot Jack with only empty bands hands to verify his claim How set the tenderfoot to hopping in terpsichorean terpsichore n ni i terror How avenge thelle lie direct with without Without out artillery For fists are undignified weapons on the frontier and for use only In unimportant squabbles and as an introduction introduction in in- to the higher court court procedure of the revolver Every Rapid citizen knew knew- for awhile the uncanny feeling of helpless tear fear was timid of declaring himself and promulgating promulgating gating hl his ability to lick all creation was timid of f dogma and candor till his hungry eye found round his adversary likewise shorn of ot power All AU the citizens walked the town cold cold and so GO frantic frantic to look wise Janus up up the street and down that an an- obliging evolution must have developed developed developed de de- eyes in the back of their heads had nothing occurred to nullify the Marshals Marshals Marshal's Mar dials dial's ultimatum and renew the good old regime ol of the revolver until its foundations foundations should be battered down b by the insipid insipid in in- acids of an effete civilization to to to quote a a. local Fourth of r July effusion Rapid City had managed to survive about a week of this uncomfortable neg negative the virtue virtue when Jesse JOsse Bolande Bo ande Esquire rode Into town at about aboul four of the afternoon He had bad been on bI his his' range all wee week and andes es B he stood at the bar har of ot Reno Jims Jim's Place h he listened to the new state of affairs with many an oath of Incredulous amaze At his right side hammer hammer ham- ham oner mer mer to the front swung his far famed 44 H extra long Jons revolver To demand it of or him would be bo calling on Hector to yield up his l and count himself tamed J. J Indeed d had Hector come back from the Ule Miguel companionship of or the he Sha Shades es lind and t stood there a at t the bar har with Bolande he would have found found the American towering ever him more magnificent in ever every pro pro- portion Into the grip of ht the Trojans Trojan's famed sword Bolande's right paw could not have cramped all its fingers Upon Bolande's groat legs the shin plates of the well well Greeks would have hung ridiculous with incompetence Though his training was not theirs the hulks flesh hulks s of Roman gladiators would have lumbered under his outstretched arm caval cavalrymen men would havo have been bee flung oft off in ludicrous disgrace a n dozen different dif- dif ferent lerent ways In a dozen effective styles b be by Y the e trick tricky y broncho wrester B.- B. lung clunk I t Cd y S. S ri y di y y 4 df Z r Y k 3 A 4 l f V r ray y cy c- c t yI v yc x f l S G ry t t r. t J t q jf t r 4 yF r si sc x MW 4 ix y r d y f S' S h. h s r l r 5 x at Y iZ W r. r s r s r j t vy d f 2 p a i. i SY i f r 1 J i vi x d V t S r f I rJ f fir r Y f ft t 1 1 J. J f 1 j I I With Epic Equality and Speed the WP Weapons en ons Leaped Into Int Position G a to with it amused nonchalance Around his massy torso the cuirass of oC a crusader or ora a Knight of or the Table Round would have gaped like e the corsets of oC a society belle bele The Tho great two-handed two sword that Wallace Wallace Wal Wal- lace waved with such dire force he be could have bave brandished with one hand he could not have fitted both Into the gripe No constriction no tugging could have bave fitted upon him bim the armor of or the doughtiest doughtiest doughtiest dough dough- warriors so much sung of oC by the troll trou He was the product of oC all the evolution their centuries of oC arduous training train train- ing had furthered So Bolande stood lounging In relaxed might across the grimy little bar and throwing into his throat glassfuls glassfuls glass glass- fuls funs of liquid fire that fire that uncongealed lava laa of oC a Western Vestern distillery Suddenly those at the window began to evince ince genuine genuine ine ins excitement a thing unusual in the themore themore themore more than socially blase cO punchers cowpunchers whom a mortal combat hardly galvanizes One of them them blurted out smacking his lips Ups Valkyrie wise Valkyrie wise in anticipation of or magnificent magnificent magnificent mag mag- battle hattle Watch out Bolande the Marshals Marshal's com comin In Bolande shrugged his whole huge frame in contemptuous Indifference Quick upon this heralding came the Marshals Marshal's august self seU He paused Just inside the door and blinked his eyes an introduction on to the tho dusk of the low low bro ved room In the twilight twi tw- light he did not impose a heroic figure His cOlossally Impressive power saluted you only when the full da day brought you ou a glimpse of a Jaw that was not square and phlegmatic but yet gaunt and nervous nervously firm of that did not waste their ferocious steel in a set det fierceness and yet gave hint of oC lurking demons The Marshal was hardly above aboe above medium height The Marshal was rather rathel below medium weight His light bones were wrapped with steel wire rather than with ponderous muscles whose bulk Is their own hindrance The The- Marshal wore a pistol at his side ex ex officIo officio His duty demanded it ft and no man feared Its Us misuse in the like dove gentleness of or his moods The he Marshal and Bolande Bolando were ere old friends d once moiled on a ragged claim upon the mountains together they had stood back to back hack In skirmishes s with wilb yelling savages in a howling bowling wilderness And now their youthful mistress Adventure Adventure ture turo had lost charm for Cor them a and ald pd they had bad drawn into the shell that a man in ii his forties will protect with his life from any encroachment though he has no desire desire de- de sire ire to make it the base of oC excursions into oth other r mens men's preserves But Bolande and andt t the e Marshal were still sun good friends bond bond- aged abed with the tho golden link of at mutual remi When the Marshal entered the tho saloon be he did not at first see Bolande's revolver and there was an unrestrained cordiality in the How with which he greeted him While bile the warmth of at Bolande's Dolande's answer strove shove with a it uneasiness When finally the glint of Bolande's dingy weapon capon struggled through the smoke of or the tiree room to the Marshals Marshal's eye he said quietly tl that l the tho others might not hear Jesse stick your gun un behind the bar till youre you're leavin town Cant Can't let you you- ou tote your irons In this mans man's town now now I If t f a i 4 Perhaps there a was as too much of or the city official and too loa little of oC the friend in his histon ton lono for Dolande's Bolande's look took teok on a a. hint of at rigor and there was a a. tang of defiance in his iris tone as os ho tried to laugh out his bis this place now are you rou Marshal Marshal Mar Mar- There was too little In Bolande's Bolando's Bo- Bo lando's landos Intonation to deceive tho the Marshal l Marshalin in its iti portent and ho he flung back a sharp shard reply elAn Any skin off you ou if I do And Bolande calmed before the others other's Hanle resentment and shrugging himself again murmured Nope But bo be some oft off the man that tries to take my gun sun away Almost pleadingly the quiescent Marshal Marshal Mar Mar- thaI answered Jesse Ill I'll give you till tin six o'clock to put up that gun or pull pun your jour freight out of this Still Stilt more unassumingly but still sUll more firmly Bolande answered find me right here at six Bring your nerve nene with you rou Marshal l II Have it ite e a drink 1 Dont mind if It I do Jesse Heres Here's how and ond they drained the with unflinching gusto susto Then Thon the Marshal turned to leave leae and Bolando sang out with th no whit of banter in his tone So long Marshal Mai Six o'clock is It Six Jesse ho be answered with as much of or tender appeal in his voice as was poss pos poe sible s Ible In a throat made brass with the raw Western air and a be heart rt grown flinty with years of or concealed repressed and thereby known little emotion Better think it over Jesse Bolande only answered half halt apologetically apologetically call cally Im pot not ot heavy on the think and retrieved himself from tram tenderness with a blunt but Ill I'll be here six foot toot two In my socks The outer day had bad swallowed the Marshal Men len hate gossip but somehow news manages to travel among them with almost almost almost al al- al- al most the gr growing rapidity of ot Vergil's Dame Rumor So h by the time the little clock behind the tho bar har was getting setting nervously ner read ready to buzz and clamor the hour of oC si air I the saloon was a almost hull full while uncouth forms torms lounged in at the windows and clogged dogged the door You might ht have ha bought ought a a. dance was Q 1 was S on or that some one had bad come como come home from Cram a a. selling cattle as rich richand richand richand and as drunk as a R. prince and ea eager er to scatter free treo whiskeys like the largess of ot ofa a n coronation lon day The cynosure of all the eyes eres ambushed behind heavy eyebrows and lov d hits hats was Bolande who ho was a I h at nt t the ber bar rigid and erect as a a. tower tow Otc One bend hend p played ved a L tattoo with ith his hia h hal halt emptied alf n. glass lags the other r hovered at the butt bull o ot of ills his pistol He was ivas stolid yet y alert gr grim deadly The whirs and boom of ot the clock startled every otery one In the thc almost noiseless room The fights o oS of frontiersmen ore are n gen gel generally el the sudden of an unforeseen unforeseen un un- foreseen rage raze Fo Formal t mat punctual duello Isra Is ls ra rare rc Even Bolande W was S a little nervous and had gulped not infrequent to whet his bla nerve and his hia an anger or to the nicety of at a razor With k knowledge born bornor of or lifelong 0 experience he had equally refrained retrained re reo trained from drinking himself past paRt the tho best form The Marshal evidently thought it only right to give his old friend three minutes of oC grae grace for It was a little after aUer the hour when his step was as heard on the board boardwalk boardwalk boardwalk walk outside Hio Hla lean strong figure was clad in his best broadcloth ho broadcloth he ho would fight like a gentleman ready for grave gra or triumph Th That at his read readymade ready marle suit Bult was much too loose hardly marred the un un- theatrIc sublimity of at his erect stern stubborn stubborn stub tub born Saxon Anglo-Saxon courage In very modesty mody mod mod- esty osty he be pulled his broad-brimmed broad hat over tho the panther blaze of oC his ruthless glare I When the tho Marshal entered the saloon Bolando waited alted calmly for Cor his eyes es' es to learn the den denser er l ilI twilight ht of oC the ro room m. m His 1 hand drew a little nearer his revolver but fore bore to dra draw l it or e even en clutch its handle As the Marshals Marshal's searching look 1001 made out Bolande's form torm and hunting further found his pistol his teeth set hard upon the last plea of friendship an and with perfectly level le 1 voice he said ton ally calm Youre still eUll here bere I see sec Im here came camo an answer of or equal phlegm An And though there was wap a cry cis o of iron ra rage e ein in do his voice ole yet et was It quiet as the Marshal Marshal Mar Mar- ahal declared war thus thul Then by God look 1001 out r for yourself With epic equality and speed the weapons a leaped into position The sp spectators spectators spec spec- Imo knowing fin no shots shota M would be wasted hept only from Crom the Immediate Immediato neighborhood neighborhood neighbor neighbor- hood of or the fight Two D of at faint aint glamour marked the path of or the revolvers revolvers vers as they from hip to aim A 5 spitting of or quick fire two fire two sharp smacks of at DO so t twinned that neither e eye c nor or orear orear ear could name the earlier and earlier and the revolvers re reo olvera had spoken Neither in vain ain Bolande fought with his arm swinging freel freely his hie whole body exposed The Marshals Marshal's Marshals Marshal's Marshals Marshal's Mar Mar- first bullet hit him In the depth of ot othis |
