April 2I - 1927 -
.l. iggaaai«g^ ty ~ ■ r ... -—~ ■
Bs?§* ; sabin.
HAS GONE BEFORE:
' has reached its newest
‘•farthest west” - Benton, Wyom
a town described as “roar
lTlg’» each new terminus, tem
ing.
t,orarily> vvas - -
Frank Beeson, a young man from
Albany, New York comes here be
lan in search of health and
ne 111 j
Benton is considered “high and
drv n
1 Edna Monroyo, a fellow passen
rCr on the train from Omaha, im- |
i!seg Beeson with the beauty !
p ; her blue eyes and the style of |
t r ' apparel. Equally she as
tonished him by taking a “smile” i
‘ f brandy before breakfast. A'
brakeman tells Beeson she has!
followed her man”, to Benton.
Jim. a typical western ruffian j
;vho she knows apparently well
insults and is floored by Frank
whose powers impresses the pas
sengers.
Col. Lunderson and “Bill” Brady
volunteer to entertain yuong Bee
son.
Frank avoids being caught by
any of the numerous gambling
games, but is robbed of all his;
money.
At the “Big Tent” Beeson again |
meets the Lady with the Blue Ey- 1
es. At “Monte” someone turns up
the corner of the winning Queen of j
hearts and Beeson, his whole $22 |
L t on it. turns the card—which
instead of being the Queen is the j
Tight of Clubs.
Awakening.
“This is the last round, gentle- :
men,” the spieler reminded. “Are |
you All in? You’,” he said, direct
to me. “Are you in such short cir
cumstances that you have no
spunk? Why, the stakes you play
would not buy refreshments for the ,
lady.” |
That was too much! I extract- j
ed my twenty-dollar note, and deaf
to a quickly breathed “Wait” from
My lady I planked it down before
him. She should know me for a
man of decision!
“There, sir,” said I, “I am bet
ting twenty-two dollars in all,
which is my limit to-night.”
“You, sir,” and he addressed
Jim. “They are backing you.
Which do you say is the queen?
Lay your finger on her.”
“Jim did so.
on,sir, then.” And he address
ed me. “You are the heaviest
better. Suppose you turn the card
for yourself and those other gen
tlemen.”
My hand trembled. There were
sixt y or seventy dollars upon the
-ble, and my own contribution
was my last cent!
I turned the card—the card with
bent corner, of which I was
certain as of my own name; I
■«ed it up, confidently, my capital
•ueady doubled; and amidst a
of astonished cries I stared
dumbfounded.
It was the eight of clubs!
My fi n?ers left it as though it
"! re a sna ke. The eight of clubs!
nere I had seen, in fancy, the
'.ueen of hearts, there lay like a
a gtiing the eight of clubs, with
tner.v bent as only token of the
transformation.
. Can t both win, gentlemen,”
gambler said. “But lam wil
£to gi\e yo U one more chance,
tr°m a new deck.”
nou^ at t * 1G res P° nse was I did
n , ' u ’ nor care - My ears drum
♦l an( \ see ing nothing I pushed
' ! ' l ° the open, Painfully
~ : tlia t I was flat penniless
kn- T J ot havin £ Played the
j h ad played the fool, for
of hearts !
m . J , 1( )SS Os some twenty dollars
rm , ' ' een a trival matter to
. : ; here 1 ha d lost my
not !, !aige or sma H; and
—I i'. ',' ,' iad f)een bilked out of it
sinkinl ! - iked myself out of by
beW pretended smartness,
dodger ’ U Vel ° f a mere artful
si de n V Lady s P ea king be
°n mv 'l' ' )rry *” She laid hand up
been con eS - • Y ° U Sh ° Uld have
followed LeilL Wlth Small sums » or
y lead. Next time—”
1(rr " !i be no ‘next’ time,” I
blutered. “I am cleaned out.”
“You don’t mean—?”
“I was first robbed at the hotel.
Now here.”
“No, no! she opposed. Jim sid
led to us. “That was a bungle,
Jim.”
He ruefully scratched his head.
A wrong steer for once, I reck
on. By thunder, I want revenge
on this joint and I mean to get it.
So do you, don’t you, partner?” he
appealed to me.
As with mute, sickly denial I
turned away it seemed to me that
I sensed a shifting of forms at the
monte table caught the words
j “You watch here a moment”; and
close following, a slim white hand
! fell heavily upon My Lady’s shoul
! der.
It whirled her about, to face the
gambler. His smooth olive coun
tenance was dark with a venom
of rage incarnate that poisoned the
air: his syllables crack ed.
“You devil! I heard you, at the
table. You meddle with my come
ons, will you?” And he slapped
her with open palm, so that the
; impact smacked. “Now get out o’
; her or I’ll kill you.”
She flamed red, all in a single
i rush of biood.
r a 1
«■ ~
“Oh!” she breathed. Her hand
darted for the pocket in her skirt,
but I sprang between the two. For
getful of my revolver, with a blow
I sent him reeling backward.
He recovered. With lightning
movement he thrust his right hand
into his waistcoat pocket.
I heard a rush of feet, a clamor
of voices; and all the while, I was
tugging, awkward with deadly per
il at my revolver.
His fingers had whipped free of
the pocket, I glimpsed as with sec
ond sight (for my eyes were held
strongly by his) the twin little
black muzzles of a derringer con
cealed in his palm; a spasm of fear
pinched me; they spurted, with
ringing report, but just at the in
stant a flanneled arm knocked his
arm up, the ball had sped ceiling
ward and the teamster of the gam
ing table stood against him, revol
ver barrel boring into his very
stomach.
“Stand pat, Mister, I call you!”
In a trice all entry of any un
pleasant emotion vanished from
my antagonist’s handsome face,
leaving it olive tinted, cameo, inert.
He steadied a little, and smiled,
surveying the teamster’s visage,
close to his.
“You have me covered, sir. My
hand is in the discard.” He com
posedly tucked the derringer into
his waistcoat pocket again. “That
gentleman stuck me; he was about
to draw on me, and by rights I
might have killed him. My apolo
i gies for this little disturbance.”
He bestowed a challenging look
upon me, a hard unforgiving look
upon the lady; with a bow he turn
ed for his hat, and stepping swift
ly went back to his table.
Now in this reaction I fought
desperately against a trembling of
the knees; there were congratula
tions, a hubbub of voices assailing
me — a nd the arm of the teamster
through mine and his bluff invita
tion:
“Come and have a drink.”
“But you’ll return. You must!
I want to speak with you!”
It was My Lady, pleading earn
estly. I still could scarcely utter
a word; my brain was in a smother.
My new friend moved me away
from her. He answered for me.
“Not until we’ve had a littl ‘con
fab, lady. We’ve got matters of
importance jest at present.”
I saw her bite her lips, as she
helplessly flushed; her blue eyes
implored me, but I had no will of
my own and I certainly owed a
measure of courtesy to this man
who had saved my life.
We found a small table in a cor
ner. The affair upon the floor was
apparently past history—if it mer
ited even that distinction. The place
had resumed its program of danc
ing, playing and drinking as though
after all a pistol shot was of no
great moment in the Big Tent.
“You had a narrow shave,” my
friend remarked as we seated our
selves.
He then proceeded to tell me that
the whole thing was' crooked.
“And the woman is the main
steer,” he concluded. “That purty
piece who damn nigh lost you your
life as well as losin’ you your
money!”
“You mean the lady with the
blue eyes?”
“Don’t you savvy that your
‘lady’s’ Montoyo’s wife—his wom
an, anyhow?”
“Montoyo? Who’s Montoyo?”
“The monte thrower! That same
spieler who trimmed us,” he rap
ped impatiently.
“She’s bond to Montoyo. He’s a
breed, some Spanish, some white,
like as not some injun. A devil,
and as slick as they make ’em.
She’s a power too white for him,
herself, but he uses her and some
day he’ll kill her. You’re not the
I fust gudgeon she’s hooked, to feed
j to him.”
Now I saw all, or enough. I had
received no more than I deserved.
“Just why Montoyo struck his
woman I don’t know,” the teams
ter went on. “Do you?”
“Yes! She had cautioned me and
he must have heard her. And she
showed which was the right card.
I don’t understand that.”
“To save her face, and egg you
on, Shore! Your twenty dollars
was nothin’. She didn’t know you
were busted. Next time she’d have
steered you to the tune of a hun
dred or two and cleaned you
proper. You hadn’t been worked
along, yet, to the right pitch o’
smartness. Montoyo must ha‘ mis
took her! Well now what are you
going to do?”
“I don’t know,” I replied. “I must
find and earn enough to get home
with.” To write for funds was now
impossible through very shame.
“Home’s the only place for a per
son of my greenness.”
“Let me make you a proposi
tion,” he said. “I’m on my way
to Salt Lake with a bull outfit and
I’m in need of another man. I’ll
give you a dollar and a half a day
and found.”
“You are teaming west, you
mean?” I asked.
“Yes, sir. Freightin’ across.
Mule-whackin.’”
“But I never drove spans in my
life; and I’m not in shape to stand
hardships,” I faltered. “I’m here
for my health. I have—”
“Stow all that, son,” he inter
THE CHATHAM RECORD
rupted. “Forget your lungs, lights
and liver and stand up a full-size
man. In my .opinion you’ve had
too much doctorin’. A month with
a bull train, a diet of beans and
sow-belly, and you can look any
body in the eye and tell him to go
to hell! This roarin’ town life—
it’s no life for you. It’s a bobtail,
wide open in the middle.”
“Sir,” I said gratefully, “may I
let you know? in the •morning
Where will I find you?”
We arranged to meet next day'
and I returned to the hotel, having
paid in advance.
Gazing neither right nor left, I
strode resolutely for the exit, but
at the door I was halted by a hand
laid upon my arm, and a quick ut
terance.
“Not goin? At least say good
night!”
I barely paused, replying to her,
“Good-night.”
Still she would have detained me.
“Oh, no no! Not this way. It
was a mistake. I swear to you I
am not to blame. Please let me
help you. I don’t know what you’ve
heard—l don’t know what has been
said about me—you are angry—”
I twitched free. With such as
she, a vampire and yet a woman,
a man’s safety lay not in words but
in unequivocal action.
“Good-night,” I bade thickly.
Bearing with me a satisfying but
somehow annoying persistent im
print of moist blue eyes under
shimmering hair, I roughly stalked
on and out, free of her, free of the
Big Tent, her lair!
In the morning as I left the ho
tel the clerk handed me a note.
It could have been sent by only
one person the superscription,
dainty and feminine, betrayed it.
That woman was still pursuing
me!
Couldn’t she understand that I
was no longer a fool—that I had
wrenched absolutely loose from her
and that she could do nothing with
me ? I was minded to tear the note
to fragments, unread, and con
temptuously scatter them. Had she
been present I should have done so,
to show her.
But around a corner, I tore the
envelope open. The folded paper
I within contained a five-dollar bank
I note.
I 'ihat was enougii to pump the
j blood to my face with a rush. It
was an insult—a shame. With
chocks twitching I managed to read
the lines accompanying the dole:
Cir:
You would not permit me to ex
plain to you tonight, therefore I
must write. The recent affair was
J a mistake. I had no intention that
I you should lose, and I supposed you
were in more funds. I insist upon
speaking with you. You shall not
go away in this fashion. You will
find me at the Elite Case, at ten
o’clock in the morning. And in case
you are a little short I beg of you
to make use of the enclosed, with
my best wishes and apologies. You
may take it as a loan. lam utterly
miserable. . E.
Half unconsciously wadding both
money and paper in my hand as if
to squeeze the last drop of rancor
from them I swung on.
“Mr. Beeson! Wait! Flease
wait.”
I had to turn about to avoid the
further degradation of acting the
churl her. an inferior.
“Ive been waiting since day
light,’ she panted, “and watching
the hotel.l was afraied you wouldn’t
answer my note, so I slipped
around and cut in on you.”
“I know where you re going.
George Jenks has engaged you.
You don’t have to turn bull-whack
er or mule-skinner! It’s a hard
life; you’re not fitted for it—never,
never. Leave Benton if you will.
Let us go together.”
“Your husband, madam,” I
prompted.
“Montoyo ? He is no husband to
me. I could kill him—l will do it
yet, to be free from him.”
“My good name, then,” I taunt
ed. “I might fear for my good
name more than I’d fear a man.”
(Continued next week)
(Copyright by Edwin L. Sabin.)
THE KEASOfN) DOT MC GEE
KNOVVS HOVN/ TO MANAGE
A HUSBAND 1 BECAUSE'
She nea/er^
Had one f, jgfc
COULD NOT MOVE
NECKJMNCH
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PAGE SEVEN