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CHAPTER XII. TWO BULLETS LEFT Srv and the rock reeled together. That was my eye- . giddy with rush of blood, surging and hot. "Never, never, never." I was shout ing. "You sha'n't go. I sha'n't po. But Wherever w?> an, \VP*11 en RilTPthPr. We'll stand them off. Then it they can take us. let 'em." "Listen." she chided, her hand grasping my sleeve. "They would take me anyWay ? don't you see? After they had killed you. It would be the worse for both of us. No, Mr. Bee son. 1 have closed a pood barirair. for both of us. He is impatient. The money ? you will need the money, and I shall not. Please turn your back and I'll pet at my belt." The chief was advancing accom panied by one warrior. I could not deliver her tender body over to that painted swapperer ? any more than I could have delivered it over to Daniel himself. A? liist T knev. I knew ! Hiftcrv had J written me a fool, but it should not write me a dastard. We were topether. and together we should always be, come weal or woe. i life or death. I leaf ? d i* >re her. answered the hail of the pausinp chief. "X?|' I shouted. "You po to hell!" He U! ? ierst The phrase mipht hav. u'l-n :"amiliar English to him. I saw aim stiff- u in his .Saddle; he called ? . y. ai d rawed VI- is:-., thf'.a'.f :au; wst'r. a uasp a :ed in-, t i ? .?? ? ? ? n . ?,.i ? ? . 1\ a r-iar . ! i.n - ? .? i Kve-Ie.i revol ver . pull* : i. The chief ut tered a teiriMe i-rv. his rii was loss ? d hiph. he '-ow ? <i. swayed dounwa.- . his comrade tabbed him. and they were racing back closely side by side ami > -e waVunn: p back to me and thf warrior w e syi< king and brand ishinp their wvapons and bullets spat tered the rocks ? all this while yet my hand shook to the recoil of the revol- : ver and thv smoke was still wafting from the poised muzzle. What had I done? But done it was. She arrived breathless, distraught, instantly t<> drap me down beside her, irom where 1 stood stupidly defiant. "Keep out of sight," she panted. And "Oh, why did you do it? Wh; did you? I think you killed him? they'll never forgive. They'll call it treachery! You're lost. lost!" "But he sha'n't have you." I declar ed. 'Let them kill me if they can. Till then -l're mine. Mine! Don't you understand? I want you." A burst of savage hoots renewed interrupted. "They're coming!" She knelt up, to j eer: 1 peered. Th ? In dians had deployed, leaving the chief lying u]:oit the ground, their fierce countenances glaring at our asylum. | A glory pi wed in her haggard face j and shone from her brimming eyes. "We will light, we will fight!" she chanted. "Oh, my man ! Had you kiss ed me last night we would have known j this longer. We have so little time." j She turned from my lips. "Not now. j They're coming. Fight first; and at i the end, then kiss me, please, and we'li go together." Furious yells vibrated among our rocks. The Sioux all were in motion, except the prostrate chief. Straight onward they dharged, at headlong gallop, to ride over us. It was enough to com, but she spoke steadily. "You must fire," she said. "Hurrp! Fire once, maybe twice, to split them." So I rose farther on my knees and fired once ? and again. It was a miracle. All swooped to right and to left as if the bullets had cleaved them apart in the center, pelt ing in bullet and nearly spent arrow. She forced me down. "Low, low," she warned. "You have fifteen shots left, for them; then, one for me, one for you. You under stand?" "I understand," I replied. "And if I'm disabled ? ?" I She answered quietly. "It will bf the same. One for you, one for me!" A double circle had been formed, i ??? move in two directions, scudding ring reversed within scudding ring, the bowmen cu-t miost. Around and round and 'round they galloped, yell ! ng. gibing, taunting, shooting so malignantly that tht? air was a con taut hum and swish. The lead whin ed and smacked, the shafts streaked ant! clattered ? "You must stop some of these fiends from sneaking closer." she ' counseled. "See? They're trying us OUt." I had been desperately saving the ammunition, to eke out this hour of mine with her. Every note from the revolver summoned the end a little nearer. But we had our game to j play; and after all, the end was cer- j tain. So when the next painted iuf-j fiian bore down. 1 guessed shrewdly, 1 arose and let hiin have it. She cried out. clapping her hands. "Good ! Good !*' The pony Was sprawling anu kick- i ir.g; the rider had hurtled free, and went jumping and dodging like a jeck ' ,? -? .?? ? ? ? ????? ?? ? . . ? ... . . . ? ; had dropped from its hollow, nlung ' ed at full lenuth aside; had started to crawl, writhing. A recruit took his place into the hollow; and th*_. courier snatched the snake from the ground. The fellow in the foreground clever ly. I fired twice ? we could not see that I had even inconvenienced fc'ni. Suddenly, as I craned, the fpllm* fired again; he had discovered a niche in our rampart, for the ball fanned my cheek with the wings of a vicious j wasp. On the instant I replied, snap ? ping quick answer. | "I don't think you hit him," she I [ said. "Let me try. I'll hold on the ! [ spot ? he'll come up in the same place, I head and shoulders. You'il nave to tempt Mm.'* And I edged farther, and farther, as if seeking for a mark, but with all i my flesh a prickle and my breath fast. ^ Abruptly it came ? the snake's strike, sting my face with the spatter ol sandstone and hot lead ; at the moment her Colt's bellowed into my ears!'* "I got him!" "Thank God," i rejoiced. She had sunk back wearily. "That is the last." X i' n a u -hiiie eve v o iniiU'ifi'd V -"li ? ~ > i down ?[. tl old freighting eastward. rabbit. -V . they nil charged rec klessly I !ho tour fides; and I had to stand and fire, right, left, before, be : !? i. emptying tie ttin once more ere I u '? scattered and fled. I'non m\ j . : . ? should a challenging ori- I llamnio of scarlet. "Nil! much. A scratch. How main | left. Nine." She hail been counting. "Se\en for them.-' \V locked one upon the other, and smiled. We faced a future together, at least: we yere in accord. The Sioux retired, mainly to sit dismounted in close circle, for a con fab. The Sioux had counciled. We waited, tense and watchful. Then without even a premonitory shout a pony bolted for us. He bore two riders. They charged .straight in, and suddenly the rear rider drop tied to the ground, bounded briefly and dived headlong, worming into a 1 little hollow of the sand. He lay half concealed; the pony : had wheeled to a shrill jubilant chor- ! us; his remaining rider lashed him in retreat, leaving the first digging lus tily with hand and knife. That was the system : an approach by rushes. "We mustn't permit it," she breather. "We must rout him out. Can you reach him?" The tawny figure, prone upon the tawny sand, was just visible, lean and snbkish, slightly oscillating as it worked. And I took careful aim, and fired, and saw the spurt from the bul let. "A 'little lower ? "she pleaded.And I fired again. She cried out joyfully. The snake "Won't they try again, you think?" "The last spare shot. I mean. Wo have only our two left. We must save those." ****** The Sioux hail quieted, and loling upoi the hare ground in the miii glare thej chattered, laughed, tested, hut ne\ . r for an instant were we dismis sed from their eyes and thoughts. "They will wait, too. They can afford it," she murmured. "It is cheaper for them than losing lives. ' "It they knew we had only the two cartridges ? ?" "Where will you shoot me, Frank?" The bared the secret heart of me. "Xo! No!" I begged. "Don't speak of that. It will be bad enough at the best.'" "You will though," she soothed. "I'd rather have it from you. I think it should be through the temple. That's sure. But you won't wait to look, will you? You'll spare yourself that?" This made me groan, craven, and wipe my hand across my forehead to brush away the frenzy. Thirst and heat tortured unceas ingly. She broke with sudden passion of hoarse appeal. "Why do we wait. Why not now?" "We ought to wait," I stammered, miserable and pitying. "Yes," she whispered, submissive, "I suppose we ought. One always does ! But I am so tired. I think," she said "that I will let my hair down. I shall ; go with my hair down. I have a ? right to, at last." Whereupon she fell to loosening j h*r hair and braiding it with herried fingers. Then after a time, I said: 44 We'll not be much longer, dear." 41 1 hope not." said *he. panting. her lips stiff, her eyes bright and fever ish. ''They'll r u.*h us at sundown; maybe before." 44I believe." said I. blurring the woids, for my tongue was getting un manageable, "thv're making ready now." She exclaimed and struggled and sat up. and we both gazed. Out there the Sioux, in that world of their own. had aroused to energy. 1 fancied that they l ad palled of the inaction. They delayed an instant, gesti culating. "It will be soon," she whispered, touching my arm. "When they are | half-way, don't fail. I trust you. Will 1 you kiss me? That is only the once." 1 kissed her; dry cracked lips met ' dry cracked lips. She laid herself I down and closed her eyes and smiled. ?Tin all right." she said. "And tir | ed. I've worked so hard lor only this. You mustn't look." "And you must wait foT me, some where," I entreated. Just a moment." ! The Sioux charged, shrieking, ham mering, lashing, all of one purpose: I that, us; she, I; my life, her body; j and quickly kneeling beside her (I I was cool and firm and collected), I ] felt her hand guide the revolver bar rel. 1 Hut I did not look. She had for bidden, and I kept my eyes upon them uptil they were half-way, and in ex ultation 1 pulled the trigger, my hand already tensed to snatch and cock and deliver myself under their very ?T"Sp. Time vras a sweetness. The hammer clicked. There had been no jar, no report. The hammer had only clicked, I tell you, shocking me to the core! A missed cartridge? An empty cham ber? Wh'ch? No matter. I should achieve for her, first; then, myself. I heard her gasp. Then I sensed an other sound and with sight sharpened 1 saw. IiisiiiL 1 screechi ?i and waved, - bizarre, no do-bt, ;s ar.y animat ed scarecrow. It i.ad b?-en a !: limpet note, and a ? ' ait \ u'.i . and a rank ot' bobbing n\ - Lad >01110 ga lopin_. galloping ? -?.or an imperceptible swell. "We'ii' saved, the soldiers are here," ! yelled as the Sioux fled, screaming. She* tottered up, clinging to me. We were sitting close together] when a lieutenant scrambled to us among our rocks; the troopeis fol r lowed, curiously scanning. His stubbld red face, dust-smearj queried us keenly ; so did his voice. "Just in time?" Ho brought curious news. Dap J had not died from my .-hot after J ! bat Montoyo the gambler had i,tJ lynched by Vigilantes. * * * ? ? I It was six weeks later when we hrj rode into Benton, wondeiing. Roaring Benton Cii .1 , vanfcw The iron tendi 1 of the 1'ar'fic Hail way clistened, stretch; im wentwjjj into this ui. set, and l'.en-.n had ft lowed the lure, to 1: ia> . , I been told usi, to (in . 1 an ? likely now traveling fast, eharaL ing the mountain slopes ot Utah. Til restless dust had settled. The Queen Hotel, the UiK Tent> the saloons, gambling dens, dance halls, the station itself had saW^i into this: a skeleton company of hid ed and weazened posts, a fantastic outcrop of coldly blackened clajtHo. neys, a sprinkling of battered cat!, 1 The fevered populace who had riilm high upon the tide of rapid life )u4 remained only as ghosts haunti?| a potter's field. "It's all, all wiped out, like he is* she said. "But 1 wished to see." "All, all is wiped out, dear hear.' . said I. "All of that. But here ml j you and I." I Through star shine we cantendl side by side eastward down the eld, 1 err.pty freighting road, for the railny J 1 stat on at Fort Steele. THE END (Copright by Edwin L. Satu) (Do you like good serials 0! ttel kind that has just finished? II a,L drop us a postal card to that effeiJ and we II try and get another p>dl ere. ? Kd.) Renew Y our HealthJ by Purification Any physician will t< i you thai! "Perfect Purification 01 t' Syste* i- Nature's Foundati n - Perfed Health." Why not rid yourself ofl chronic ailments that are underuinl ing your vitality? Purify yout tire system by taking a thoroq course of Calotabs,? once or twici week for several weeks- and see hi Nature rewards you with health. | Calotabs are the greatest of i system purifiers. Get a family pad age, containing full directions. OrJi 35 cts. At any drug store. (Advf How sweetly all cars would run if all motor oils were as good as "Standard As the silent miles slip by in a ribbon of road, you realize how much the motor car owes to its lubricating oil and how impor tant it is to have the right oil. "Standard" Motor Oil is the result of over 50 years' experience. The best qualities claimed for various lubricating oils are all in this one oil. It withstands heat, holds its body and guards against carbon deposits. STANDARD OIL COMPANY (N. J.) "STANDARD" MOTOR OIL \'s The Measure of Oil Value
The Cherokee Scout (Murphy, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
April 22, 1927, edition 1
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