| Show I I J SALOMY S A L 0 M Y JANES JAN J A N E S KISS K I S S V 7 V I By Bret Harte I 1 Only one ono shot had been fired fird It I Had ld gone wide of ot Its It mark the ringleader of tho the Vigilantes and had left Rel Re RePete Pete who had ha fired fred It i covered by their rUles rilles and at their mercy For his hi hand had been cramped by hard riding g and his eye ore distracted by their sudden on onset onset set and ad so the Inevitable end had come Ho lb 10 submitted sullenly to his captO his companion fugitive and aud gave up tho struggle with wih a feeling not nUke relief Even the hot and nd revengeful victors were content They had taken their men alive alve At any time during the long chase chae they tho could have brought them down by a but it v woud would haye have been un sportsmanlike and have ended in a afree afree afree free fight instead of an example And Anti for the matter mater of that their doom d om was already sealed scaled Their end by a rope and a tree although not sanctioned by bylaw bylaw 4 law would have at least the delibera deliberation deliberation tion ton of justice It I was the tribute paid by the te Vigilantes to that order which they had themselves disregarded in the th pursuit and capture Yet this strange logic of ot the frontier sufficed them and gave a certain dignity to the climax Ef Et youve got anything to say s to your folks say it I now and say sy it i quick said tho the ringleader Red Pete glanced around arund him He had bad been run to earth at his own cabin i In the clearing cearing whence a few relations i and friends mostly mOlty women and an chit chil children chi dren noncombatants had gazing vacantly at the twenty Vigilantes Vigilantes lates who wh surrounded them AH All Al were accustomed to scenes of violence blood feud chase and hardship har it was only on y the suddenness of the onset and its quick result that had surprised them They he looked on with dazed curiosity and some disappointment there had been no light fight to speak of no spectacle cle dc ce A boy nephew of ot Red ne Pete got fir upon pon the to view the pro proceedings proceedings proceedings more comfortably a tall tal handsome lazy Kentucky girl a visit visiting visitIng ing neighbor leaned against the door doorpost doorpost doorpost post chewing cheing gum sum Only a yellow hound was actively perplexed Ho I could not make out If a hunt were just over or beginning and ran eagerly backwards and forwards leaping alter alternately aler alternately upon the captives and the cap tors tor The ringleader repeated his challenge Red fled Pete gave a I reckless laugh and looked lo ked at tt his wife At which Mrs lr Red Pete came ce for forward forward forward ward It I seemed that she had much to say Incoherently vindictively to the ringleader His soul would roast in hell hel for tor that days work He called cled himself a man ma in the open and afraid to show himself except t with wih a crowd of other around a house of women and children Heaping Insult Insul upon insult Insul inveigling inveighing against his low blood his ancestors ancestor his dubious origin she at last flung fung out a wild wid taunt of his invalid wife wie the insult Insul of a woman to toa toa toa a woman until his white face grew rig Id iti and only that fetich fetch of the sanctity of f sex kept his twitching fingers lock of hia hii rIfle Even Evon her husband husban noticed It and with wih a Let up on that old gal gl and a pat of his freed freedhand freedhand freedhand hand on her back ba k took his last part partIng parting parting Ing The ringleader ringleader stilt still white under ts tj t lash of ot the womans tongue tonge turned abruptly abrupt to the second captive And Andi If i youve got anybody to say sy goodby goob to your our chance chance The man looked up Nobody stirred or spoke He was a stranger there be being beIng beIng ing a chance confederate picked up by byRed byRed byRed Red Pete and ad known to no one one Still Sti young but an outlaw from rom his boy boyhood boyhood boyhood hood of which father and mother were only a forgotten dream he loved horses hores and stole them fully accepting the frontier penalty of life for the Interference ence with wih that animal on which a amans amans amans mans life so often ofen depended But he understood the good points of a horse as RS was shown by the one he bestrode bestrode until a few Cew days das before before the property of Judge This was was his sole distinction The unexpected question queston stirred him himor for or a moment out of the attitude of ol reckless Indifference for attitude II I It was wa and a a part of his profession But Bui Buti It i may have touched him that at that moment he was less lern lef than his compan companion ton ion and his virago virgo wife However he only shook his head hed As he did so his eye ee casually fell fel on the handsome girl by hy the doorpost who was looking at him The ringleader too to may have been touched touche by his complete loneil loneliness lonel ness nes for h hesitated At the same moment he saw that the girl was look looking lookIng ing at this friendless captive A grotesque Idea struck him Salomy Jane ane ye e might do worse than come yere and say sa goodby to a u 1 dying man and him a stranger he said There Ther seemed to be a subtle stroke of poetry and ad Irony Irn In this that equally equal struck the apathetic crowd N It I was wa well wel known that Salomy Jane ane Clay thought no small smal potatoes for herself and always awa s held off of the local swain with wih Jazy n a lazy scorn Never Nevertheless Nevertheless Nevertheless she slowly disengaged herself hersel from the doorpost and to astonishment lounged with wih languid grace grce and outstretched hands towards the prisoner The color came Into the gray gry reckless mask mak which the doomed man ma wore as her right hand grasped his left lef just loosed by his captors Then she paused her shy sh eyes grew bold and fixed themselves upon him She took the from her mouth wiped d her red rd lips with wih the back of her hand by a sud mid sudden den dim lithe the spring spring placed her foot on his stirrup and bounding to the saddle threw her arms arnie ars about his neck anc and pressed a kiss upon his lips They remained thus for fora a hushed mo me moment ment the man on the threshold o ol 01 I death the young woman In the fullness of youth and beauty linked together together Then the crowd laughed laughe In the auda audacious audacious cious dous effrontery of ot the tho girls Irs act th ultimate fate of the two mon men was wa for forgotten gotten She slipped languidly to the ground gund she was wa the focus of all al eyes ees she fihe the only The ringleader saw it i and his opportunity r He Hc shouted Times up Forward urged his horse hore beshle b sl his and the next moment the 1 whole cavalcade was sweeping over th tl Lf clearing cearing into the darkening woods Their destination was Sawyers Crossing the headquarters of the tho com corn committee where the council counci was still sit sitting si sitting ting and where both culprits were to expiate the tIme offense otense of which that tat coun council cil cli cl had already found them guilty They rode rde in great gat anti and an breathless haste a haste In which strangely enough enough even the captives seemed to join That haste possibly I c them from noticing the te singular singla change hange t which had hae taken place In the second captive since the tho episode of the tHc kiss liss His high color remained as If It i had hac burned through his mask mak of O ce his hi eyes were quick alert ad and keen his mouth half haI open as If the girls kiss still sti lingered there And that haste hate had made mae them careless creless for forthe forthe forthe the horse of the man who J I J led le him slipped in a rolled over unseated his rider and an even dragged the bound and helpless second captive from Judge favorite mare marc ma In an Instant they were all nI on their feet again but in that supreme moment the second captive felt fel the cords which bound his arms had slipped to his wrists wrists By keeping his elbows to his sides and obliging the he others to help him mount it i escaped their no notice notice tice By riding riding close to his captors and keeping in the crush of throng he further concealed the accident slowly working his hands downwards out of the bonds Their way lay through a sylvan sylva wil wilderness wi wilderness deep in ferns whose tall tal fronds brushed their horses sides in their furious gallop glop and concealed the flapping of the captives loosened cords The peaceful Vista ista more inure sug suggestive of o offerings offering of nymph and shep shop shepherd herd than of human sacrifice was in int Ina a t strange contrast to this whirlwind rush of stern armed men The wester lug Ing ng sun T pierced the subdued light and he time tremor of leaves with wih yellow lances ances birds birs started Into song on blue and ad wings and on either side of the trail trai of this vengeful storm could be heard the murmur of hidden and tranquil waters water In a few mo moments moments moments ments they would be on the open ridge whence the common turnpike to Sawyers a mile mie away awa It I was the custom of returning cavalcades to take this hill hi at headlong speed with with shouts shout and ad cries that heralded their coming They withhold withheld the latter later that day as Inconsistent with wih their dignity but emerging from the wood swept silently like ike an avalanche down the slope slope They Chey The were well wel under way looking hooking only to their horses hores when the second captive capto slipped his right arm from the bonds and succeeded succeeded In grasping the reins that lay icy trailing tring on the horses honos neck A sudden vaquero jerk which he the te animal understood threw w him on his haunches with wih his forelegs firmly planted on the slope The rest of ot the cavalcade swept sweat on the he man who was leading the captives horse by the rat thinking only of another accident dropped the te line lne to save himself from being dragged back backwards backwards wards from his horse horbe The Time captive I wheeled and the next moment was gal galloping galloping galloping loping furiously up the time slope It I was the time work of a moment a trained horse and an experienced hand The cavalcade had covered nearly nearl fifty yards ards before they the could pull pul up the freed captive had covered half hal that dis distance distance distance tance uphill The Tho road roa was so narrow that only two shots could be fired fred and these thes broke dus dust t two tw yards ards ahead of the fugitive They had not dared to fire low the horse was the more val valuable valuable animal animal The fugitive knew kew this in his extremity also and would have gladly taken a shot in his own leg to spare that of his horse hore Five detached to recapture or kill ki him The latter later seemed inevitable But he had calculated his chances before they could reload he had hind reached the woods again agin winding in and out between the pillared piard tree trunks s he lie offered no mark They knew his horse was superior to their own at the end of two hours hour they returned for he ho had disappeared without track or trail trai The end was briefly told in the Sierra Record wa Roil Red Re Pete the notorious who had so long eluded justice was captured and hung by the Sawyers Crossing Vigilantes last week his con federate Ced rte unfortunately escaped on a valuable horse hore belonging to Judge The judge had refused one dollars dola for the horse hore only a week before As the thief who Is still sti at large would find it difficult to dispose of ot so valuable an animal with without without without out the chances are against either of them turning turing up again agin Salomy Jane ane watched watch the cavalcade until It had hd disappeared Then she be became became became came aware that her brief popularity had passed Mrs Red lied Pete in stormy hysterics had included include her In a sweep ing denunciation of the whole universe possibly for simulating an emotion In Ir which she herself was deficient The Theother Theother Theother other woman hated her for her mo momentary momentary mentar exaltation above them only the tle children still admired her as a one who had ha undoubtedly canoodled with witha wih a man nging to be hung hunga a daring flight beyond wildest ambition ambion Salomy Jane accepted the change with charming unconcern She put on her yellow elow nankeen sunbonnet a hideous affair that would have haye ruined any other woman but which only enhanced the piquancy of her fresh brunette skin tied ted th strings letting the braids escape below its i frilled curtain behind jumped on her mustang with wih a casual display of agile agIe ankles in shape ly h white stockings whistled to the hound and waving her hand with a So long sonny onny to the lately bereft but admiring nephew flapped and flut fluttered fut fluttered away in her her short brown b own holland holand gown Her fathers fathers house miles mies dis distant distant distant tant tant Contrasted with wih the tle cabin she had hai just quitted it was was a superior dwelling with wih a long leanto lento at the rear which brought the eaves almost to the ground gound awl and made it look like a low triangle It I had a long barn anc and cattle cate sheds for Madison Clay was wa a aget greet great get and the 01 of ofa a quarter section It I had a sitting room and a parlor organ whose trans transportation transportation thither had been a a marvel maryel marel of packing These things were sup I posed to give Rive Salomy Jane ane an undue importance but the girls girls reserve and Inaccessibility to local advances were rather the result of a cool lazy laay tem tern temperament and the preoccupation ion of a large protecting admiration for tor her father ather for some years a widower For Mr Ir Madison Clays life had been threatened In Sn one or two feuds it was said not without cause and it Is possible that hat time the of her father Cather doing his visiting with wih a shotgun may mav have touched her closely cosel and somewhat prejudiced prejudice her against the neighboring masculinity The thought that cattle catte horses horS and ter tet section would one day daF be hers llers did not disturb her calm As Ag for Mr ir Clay he accepted her as a housewifely though somewhat interfering Interfering and being one of his own womankind there fore for not without some somo degree of merit merit Wets Vols this yer Im Im henna hearin of your over at Red Petos Petes Honey with wih a eh oh al aid I Mr Clay Cia two days later biter 1 ter at breakfast I reckon J ou heard h about the straight thing th I iS then said Salome Salomo Salomey Jane unconcernedly enel without looking round rund What do you iato ul say sy to it I What are ue you it hito to 10 tell him said Yr Mr Clay sarcastically Rube Rub or Reuben Waters W was a swain supposed to be favored particularly particularly by b Mr lr Clay Salomy Jane looked up UpIl Ill Il tell tel him that when hes lies on his way to be hung Ill kiss Ids him not till tm then said the young lady brightly brighty This delightful witticism suited suied the paternal humor and and Mr Clay smiled but b nevertheless he frowned a mo moment moment moment ment afterwards But this thI yer got away arter all al and a boss hoss of a differ different different ent color he lie said grimly sail Salomy Jane Jano put down her knife and fork This was certainly a new nev and different phase of the te situation She had never thought of it before and strangely enough for the first time she became interested in the man Got away she he repeated Did they let him off of Not Inu h said sid her father tather briefly Slipped his cords cors and going down the he grade pulled up short just like a vaquero aquero |
