Show 1 a THE AT THE HALFWAY HOUSE I 1 A S R Y P L A 1 N S BY E HOUGH AUTHOR OF THE STORY OF THE COWBOY I 1 1903 if D new i CHAPTER bill watson the sheriff of ellisville Ellis ville sat in his office oiling the machinery of the law which is to sa cleaning his revolver there was not yet any courthouse the sheriff was the law twelve new mounds on the hillside back of the cottage hotel showed how faithfully he had executed his duties as judge and jury since he had taken up his office at the beginning of the cow boom of ie 1 right hand had found somewhat to do and he had done t w th his might was near the zenith of its biad eminence the entire country had gone broad horn money being free whisky was not less so the bar of the cottage was lined perpetually wild men from the range rode their horses up the steps and into the bar room demanding to be served as they tat in the saddle as gentlemen should glass was too tempting to the six shooters of these enthusiasts and the barkeeper begged the question by stowing away the fragments of his mir and keeping most of his bottles out of leht more than once he was asked to hold up a bottle of whisky that some cow puncher might prove his skill by shooting the neck off from the flask the bartender was tad turn and at times glum but his face was the only one at the bar that show ed any irritation or sadness this railroad town was a bright new thing for the horsemen of the trail a very joyous thing INO funeral could check their hilarity no whisky could daun their throats long seared with alka 1 it was notorious the civil war human life was held deiy cheap all over america it haying been seen how small a thing Is a man how little may be a million men taken bodily from the population nowhere a as life cheaper than on the frontier and at no place on that frontier of less value than at this wicked little city the sheriff of ellisville Ellis ville looked thoughtful as he tested the machinery of the law he had a warrant for a new bad man who bad come up from go over aitt git cap frani am he s a good man pick up somebody else you want to go along with you an then you start out on cal s trail near as you at it you better take along that d d greater that big juan fer he 1 in run trail like a you stop at all the out fits you come to fer say fifty miles dont do kotbin moren ask an then go on it you come to a outfit that hain t seen him an then another outfit burder on that has seen him you remember the one that hain t it you don t git no track in fifty mile swing around to the southeast an cut th main drive trail an see if you hear ot anything that way it you don t git w trace by that you better come on back in an tell me an then we see what to do about it burder all right bill said curly rising and tal ing a chew of tobacco in which the sheriff joined him all right you got any papers fer us to tate alonga kaperst said the sheriff contempt bously Papers 7 hell vie anderson was drunk calmly magnificently satisfactorily drunk it had taken time but it was a act complis hed the actual state of af fairs was best known to ike anderson himself and not obvious to the passer by ike anderson s gaze might have been hard but it was direct his walk was perfectly decorous and straight his brain perfectly clear his band perfectly steady only some where deep down in his mind there burned some little still blue flame of deil lishness which left ike anderson not a human being but a log cal and murderous animal this said ike anderson to him self all the time this is little ike an derson a little boy playing I 1 can see the green fields the pleasant meadows the little brook that crossed them I 1 r my mother gave me bread and milk for my supper al ays my sister washed my bare feet when I 1 was a little little boy he paused and leaned one hand against a any trouble ane indian nations and who had celebrated his first day in town by shoot ing two men who declined to get off the sidewalk so that he could ride his i horse more comfortably there bill watson the sheriff of was a heavily built sandy haired red mustached and solid his legs were bowed and his carriage awk ward he had thick clumsy looking fingers whose appearance belied their deftness bill watson had gone i through the quantrell raid in his time it was nothing to him when he was to be killed such a man is careful in his shooting because he la care less of being shot having therefore a vast advantage over the desperado of two or three victims who does not yet accept the fact that his own days are numbered the only trouble in repard to this new bad man from jubelow was that his mental attitude this point was much the same as that of sheriff bill watson there aoe the sheriff was extremely careful about the oiling of the cylinder the cleaning of hia six and tossed the oiled rag into he drawer of the table where he dept the warrants he slipped the eavy weapon into the scabbard at ils right leg and saw that the string beld the scabbard firmly to his tro tiser eg so that he might draw the gun smoothly and without hindrance from ts sheath he was a simple ealious man not a heroic figure as e stood his weight resting on the ides of his feet looking out of the aindow down the long and wind swept treet of i gradually the gaze of the sheriff paused becoming occupied with the gure of a horseman whose steady dang seemed to have a ban that of merely showing his oy living and riding this rider passed ther riders without pausing he acme up the street at a gallop until the office door where he aked up his horse sharply and prang from the saddle mornin bill he said mornin curly said the sheriff tea lookin for a doctor au re ridin perty fast nope said curly beckon its a ade late for a doctor the sheriff was gravely silent ater a while he said quietly bany trouble 7 1 yep plenty whoa 1 why it s cal greathouse you ow cal last week he goes off a ways a lookin fer some winter ige that won t be so crowded he IBS alone now to day his horse nes back braggin his lariat we we better come tell you 0 arse they aint no horse gettin jay tm cal greathouse not if bes e fhe sheriff fell into thought slowly twing at a splinter tell you said at length slowly I 1 faint y well git away right now you katimy porch post thinking A little little bo he repeated to himself no it he thought its ike anderson gi owing up he s play ing tag the boy tripped him and laughed at him and ike anderson got out bis knife he cast a red eye about him no it isn t he thought it s ike anderson with the people chasing him and the shotgun ike s grow ing up faster growing right along they all want him but they don t get him one two three five nine eight seven I 1 could count them all once ike anderson no mother no sweetheart no home moving amov ing but they never scared him yet ike anderson I 1 never took any cattle an impulse to walk seized him and he did so quietly stead f until he met a stranger a man itne clothing bespoke his residence in another region good morning gentle sir said ike good morning friend sa d the other smiling gentle sir said ike just amme look at you watch a minute wont you laughingly the stranger complied suspecting only that his odd ac coster might have tarried too long over bis cups ike took the watch in his hand looked at it gravely for a mo ment then gave it a jerk that broke the chain and dropped it into bis own pocket I 1 like it said he simply and parsed on the stranger followed about to use violence but caught sight of a white faced man who through a window vehemently beckoned him to ike anderson stepped into a saloon and took a straw from a glass stand ing on the bar exercising an exact and critical taste in its selection I 1 v very thirsty he remarked plaint ly saying which he shot a hole in a barrel of whisky inserted the straw and drank lingeringly thank you he said softly and shot the glass of straws off the coun ter thank you not after me the whisky ran out over the floor out of the door over the path and into the road but no one raised a voice in rebuke the blue flame burned a trifle higher in ike anderson s brain he was growing very much intoxicated and therefore very quiet and very sober looking he did not ell and flourish his revolvers but walked along de bently engaged in thought he passed by the front of the cottage hotel A negro boy who worked about the place was sweeping idly at the porch door shuffling lazily about at his em ike paused and looked amiably at him for some moments good morning colored scion he said pleasantly lawnin boss said the negro grinning widely coloria erion saia ike bereni he reni to oblige me would ou elal whooping it up with yore broom beetle fastert the negro scowled and muttered and the next moment sprang sprawl ing forward with a scream ike had shot off heel of his shoe in the process art sparing all of the foot the negro swept as he had never swept before twice a bullet cut the floor at his feet and at last the stick of the broom was shattered in his hand colored scion said ike an derson as though in surprise yore broom Is damaged kneel down and pray for another the o knelt and surely prayed on all sides swept the wide and empty streets it was ike anderson town A red film seemed to his gaze to come over the face of things he slipped his revolver back into the scabbard and paused again to think A q ick footstep bounded on the walk behind him aad he wheeled still aled with the red film and the mental problem the sheriff stood quietly facing him with his thumbs resting lightly in his belt he had not drawn his own revolver he was chewing a splinter ike said he throw up your hands the nerves of some men act more quickly than those of others and such men make the most dangerous atol shots when they have good di and long practice at the rapid drawing of the revolver an art at that time much cultivated ike an derson s mind and nerves and mus were lightning like in the instantaneous rapidity of their action the eye could scarce have followed th movement by which the revolver leaped to a level from his right hand scabbard he had forgotten in his moment of study that with his six shooter ie had fired once at the whis gy barrel once at the glass of straws once at the negro s heel twice at the floor and once at the broomstick the click on the shell was heard clearly at the hotel bar distinctly ahead of the double report that fol lowed for such was the sharpness of this a s mental and muscular acton he had dropped the empty re volver from his right hand and drawn the other with bis left hand in time to meet the fire of the sheriff to be continued |