Show BEHIND THE ROCK A tula tale of Ite ll erenee after six rone long r one year years of waiting here on oli the mountain aide with the tile rough wagon trail trall passing the door and winding upward among the treca tree and sand rocks la in an undecided way as 03 it if tearful fearful of losing atif in the solitude la is a mountaineers rude cabin an old blanket answers for a door there is 14 neither sash nor glass in I 1 the places cut for windows oa on a log at the door arc tire a woman and a boy mother and don on she is tall and gaunt aha she Is wrinkled and pray gray the boy la Is not over twelve years of age she I 1 smoking her pipe while both gaze into the woods opposite and are silent allent it has been so for an hour its time to tom toi I bald said the woman nt at she knocked the ashes from hei her last la st as pipe and rose up it is 4 in i the line afternoon of a july day the bo boy y follow follows her into the tile house houge without a word there is a bundle lying on the earthen floor and a gun standing lu ill the corner she lifts up the e bundle and lit bit shoulders t the begun gu n the bundle contains a couple of b bk k and sonic meat the has been loaded with buckshot gun the boy fol and the woman wor nan passed out lowed they did norwalk not walk side by side a descended the trail but she led and they he ile followed they did not look to the right or left but straight ahead L then was no haste no loitering squirrel barked at them from the treetops tree treet topa but crossed the trail neither looked up lip A fox only a few feet ahead of them with a rush but they made no comment right yere total it was about bout a had descended the trail a they east and west mile and halted where the will trail crossed it was rag a lonely spot only rocks and trees for surrounding she the whispered ai at right aerel it was I 1 that right arm bhe she extended her long 1009 dead shot through tin lilt found him alyin ambushed ile head ad in hy v abe taylor who was thia waa was a long alx vara yaru ngo ago ive bin va wi litIle fur yol vo to crow grow and alge the time has hm comer cornet the boy leaned on the gun and looked around him bim he ile le had seen sen the place many times before it was called call I 1 dead ead maos mans crossing away back in the pmt amt lie could remember of a dead body being brought into t the to cabin of tears and vow vows s of a burial scarce twenty feet front from the door the grave grare of bia hia father had bad been before bis his eyes ey every ery day for MX bix years never a night might but what the mother had baid said its one day nearer tom ono one day near erl P or five rive minutes s they stood at the crossing and looked up and anti down and about then the woman quietly said behind that rock tom whar abe taylor ambus ambushed heill 1 an hour later the echo of an iron shoe hoe striking against a sto stone was beard heard and a minute after horse and rider came into view its only steve baileyy Bai leyl whispered the woman as she put a wrinkled band hand on ort the boys shoulder the sun went down and night came on at t 0 more echoes were heard from the rocky trail and for a minute tho the tree toads and crickets hushed bushed their music in alarm its jim abarton on his ills white mewl whispered the woman and man and beast passed into the tile deeper darkness of the trail to the east without suspicion an hour later the boy slept as ho he leaned a against the great rock at sunrise the boy 0 opened his eyes to find hh lis mother looking at him with a smile on her face him will vill paw pass today fur chorel she said as its she brought out the bread and meat 1 t tor for luncheon then him will bo be a dead mant an tom as lie began eating at 7 they were watching and waiting so at 8 9 10 11 now and thin then they looked at each other but not a word was spoken thero there was no need of speech A thousand timea times in the MX six years named the woman bad imagined herself there just as 8 she he was now on a thousand different bocc occasions afons 5 she had said ud to the boy abe taylor ambushed yer pap down at the crossin im browin ye up to ambush abe the same way the summer sun waa was drawing near the noonday mark when a merry whistle echoed from the eastern trail and the mother malsed her hand in warning the boy shoved the barrel of the gun over the rock tor for a ma acis he ile did not turn pale be he did not brea he lie faster its abel whispered the mother behind him as the tile footsteps of a horse were w fre heard beard on the trail the man was in a merry mood his ills whittle ceci and lie began al singing nging bix six vears years ao ago that very day he had beau hid bid ing behind that rock with hate and murder in his heart As be pulled trigger a man pitched off his mule and gasped two or three times and was dead he ile had stood and looked down at him without regret or pity and bad had gone away to bonat of his hn bloody deed did no warning come to him now was he lie singing to break the terrible solitude of the tile spot until he had passed by isow now there was a flash a report a shout and the echo of the horses footsteps grew fainter and fainter and finally die died daway away altogether down the trall trail come they moved out together from behind th drock aud add blood looking at a corpse on the tile trail the I 1 ho distance had not been over twenty tw enty feet and the tile heavy charge of buck 6 shot hot striking tha manin inin in the side h had a d al most cut his ills body in two iwo he ile was dead before he left the saddle 1111 bilms wiped come so said the w oman woman after a couple of min utes and she started up the trail with the boy following as they had come down never a word between them althey as they walked bo homeward never a glance behind to see if he lie followed As they came to the to itt the door of the cabin they set satt down and the woman filled her pipe and began ing the tile boy wy laid the gun across the log clasped his its handi over lis kneland knee and looked tuto into the w woods the T h w oman woman said wea wes dun got even bowl now I 1 yes dun got even cv en he be answered M QUAD |