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About The Springfield news. (Springfield, Lane County, Or.) 1916-2006 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 5, 1920)
'rmmsDAY, i kihu aiiv r,. i&so. THE SMtlN'GFlKM) NliWS (JET some today! You're going to call Lucky Strikes just right. Because Lucky Strike ciga rettes give you the good, wholesome flavor of toasted Hurley tobacco. CROOKED TRAILS STRAIGHT ffilll&in MzcZeodJ?3ine COPY RIGHT. IVr CW. OII.IjIMOj f 1AM COM nyVTTf Wlille they fed. watered inifl sad dled ( hey swupped gossip with the wrunglcr. It would tint (In to leave the boy with u story of two riders In such a hurry to lilt the trail that 1 1 1 y could not unit to teed ilii'.r bronchos. No they Muck ll out while tin animals ate. At tluit, llii'.v shaved It Hue. for us they rode away two men were coming down the street. "Kite Bonllls," Cm ly called to bis liiirtner. No f xiiinnt Ion whs n hd. Mmi- flls wus I lie f i di'i i in n of (lit Pur Double M. lit let out ll slim! ut lie CUUght Mi li t (it' them lilid be-all to run forward. Slmultui usly his nun seemed to Jump from Us holster. Mac's quirt sung nrnl his pony Imped to u ciiiiter in two snides'. A bullet Zipped hetween lliein. Another truck the dust nt their heels. Inlnt ly there mint' to the fugitives the sound of the foreman's Impotent curses. .They hint ('.-.ciiped for the time. Tresently they piissed the hist hart) wire fence mid open country hiy he fore them. It did not greatly mutter which direction they followed, so long as they heuded Into the desert. Neither of them luul ever been In serious trouble before nud both re fretted the folly tliut hud turned their drunken spree Into u crime. They were stretched In front of the lire ihut evening trying to make u smoke serve Instead of supper. Miie broke a gloomy Hence to grunt out Jerkily u situa tion lie could no longer keep to hlui elf. "Here's where I get "y walking pa pers, I reckon. No rustlers ueed ap ply." Curly shot a slant glance nt him. "Meaulng the girl?" The red heuded puncher took from bl coat pocket u photograph and ahowed It to his friend. The sweet clean face of a wholesome girl smiled t Curly. "Mies eetllilliy II rurlii line young Inly. I'll bet she stands by you ull rlht. Where's she Uveal?" Walts In a restaurant at Tomb stone. We was Koine to be married soon as we had saved live hundred dol lars." Mac swallowed hard. "And I mid to I'njure out this short cut to the money whilst I was drunk. As If she'd look at iimncy made that way." Curly tried to cheer him up, but did not make much of a Job at It. The In disputable facts wire that Mao was an outlaw and a horse thief. The redheaded boy rolled another cigarette, despondently. "Shol I've cooked my noose. She'll not look at me even If they don't send tne to the pen. And she's the best ever, ller nunie's Myru Anderson." They slept under a live oak with the soundness of healthy youth. For the time they forgot their troubles. Neither of them knew that as the hours sllpx?'l a way red tragedy w as galloping closer O them. The sun was shining In his face when Curly wakened, lie sat up and rubbed his eyes. Mao was nowhere In sight. I'robably ho had gone to get the horses. A sound broke the stillness of the desert. I'lanclrnu leaped to his feet, and at the same Instant Mao came ''Ulinini! over the brow of the hill. A smoking revolver was In his hand. From behind the hill a gun cracked then u second nud u third. Mac stumbled over his feet and pitched forward full length on the ground. Ilia friend ran toward him, forgetting the 'cvolver that lay In Its hoists under the live oak. Kvery moment he ex pected to see Mac Jump vip. but the fig ure M retched beside the chollu never moved. Klandrau felt the muscles round Ills heart tighten, lie had seen sudden death before, hut never hud It come so ueur home. A bullet sent up a spurt of dust In front of him, uuother Just on the left. Hlilure were njuking a hulf circle round the knoll and closing in on him. j In his right mind Curly would have ' been properly frightened, l'.ut now he ' thought only of Mac lying there so still Mi the suiid. Illght Into the tire zor.e ' he run. knelt beside Ins partner and lifted the red thatched bend. A little hole showed back of the left ear and ' another st the right temple. A bullet nnd plowed through the boy's skull. ! Softly Handrail put the head back 1 In the sand and rose to his feet. The j revolver of the dead puncher was In 1 his hand. The riders were closing In j on him. The nearest called to him to j surrender. Almost at the fume time a red-hot pain shot througn tne ien arm of the trapped rustler. Someone had nipped hltn from the rear. Curly saw red. Surrender noth ing I He would go down fighting. As fust as he could blaze he emptied Mac's gun. When the smoke cleared the man who hal ordered him to give up was slipping from his horse. Curly was surprised, but he knew he must have hit hi in by chance. "We got him. Ills gun's empty," some one shouted. Cautiously they closed In. keeping him covered all the time. Of a sudden the plain tilted up to ueet the sky. Fluudruu felt himself swnylug on his feet. Everything vent blucli. The Uoy had fainted. When he came to himself strange faces were all around hltu und there were no bodies to go wliu them. They seemed to flout about In an odd, casual sort of way. Then things cleared. "He's coming to ull right," one said. "How Is Culllson?" This was said to another who had Just come up. "Hard hit. Looks about ull In. Got him lu the side." The ruge died out of Curly. In n flash he saw all that had come of this drunken spree: the rustling of the Itnr liouhle M stock, the discovery, the death of his friend ami maybe of Culllson, the certain punish nt that would follow. He was a horse thief caught almost In the act. I'erhaps he was a murderer, ton. And the whole thing hud been entirely unpremedi tated. "You've played h ," one of the men told the boy. He was a sawed olT little fellow known us Hutch, t'landrau had seen him in the Map of Texas country u year or two before. The rest were atrungers to the boy. All of them looked at him out of hard, hostile eyes. He was pea reel y a hutnuu being to them; ruther a wolf to he stamped out of existence us soon as It wus conven ient At a shift In the group KlaiTUrnu's eyes fell on his friend lying lu the sand with fuce turned whltely to the sky he never would see aguln. A lump cain lto the boyji Jhroat andj!9 bud to work It down before tie spoke. "There's a picture In ll pocket, and inline letters. I reckon. Send them to Miss Myra Anderson, Tombstone, care of one of the re to u rants. I don't know which one." ".Vnd riothln'," aneered Dutch, and rouplMl It with a remark no decent man mskes of a woman on a guess. HecHune of poor Mac lying there with the little hoi In his temple Curly boiled over. With a J-rk his right arm wbs free. It shot out like a pile driver, all his1 weight behind the blow. Dutch went down as If a charging bull had flung him. Almost simultaneously Curly hit the sand hard. Before he could stir three men were straddled over his anatomy. One of them ground his head Into the dust. "You would, eh? We'll (ee about that. Jake, bring yore rope." They tied the hands of the boy. hauled him to his feet, and set him astride a horse. In the distance n windmill of the Circle C runch was shining In the morning sun. Toward the group of buildings clustered around this two of his cuptors started with Flundruu. As they rode ulong a fenced lane which led to the house a girl cuuie fly ing down the steps. At slj:ht of those coming towurd her she culled out quickly : "How Is dad?" The quiver of fear broke In her voice. "Don't know yet. Miss Kate," an swered one of the men. "He's right peart, though. Says for to tell you not to worry. We've got here the mungy sou of a gnu that did It." I'efore lie had tiliUhcd she was of liico mi arrow shot from a bow, but not until !o-r eyes hud fallen on the y.mth sitting ha reheinled und bloody between the guns of his guard. Curly noticed that iie had given R .shudder. ms one mielit at sight of u mungle! nud dog which bad just bit a dear friend. Long after the pounding of tier pony's hoofs had died away the prisoner could see the startled eyes of t'enr and horror that had rested on him. I lis guards put I-'landrau In the bunk hoiise and one of them sat at the door with a rifle across his knees. The cook, the stable boy, and red-headed Hob Culllson, a nephew of the owner of the ranch, peered pust the voquero at the captive with the same awe they would have yielded to n caged panther. "Why, he's only a kid. Buck." the cook whispered. Buck chewed tobacco Impassively. "Old enough to be a rustler and a killer." Bob's blue eyes were wide with In terest. "I'll bet he's a regular Billy the Kid," murmured the half-grow u boy to the other lad. "Sure. Course he Is. He's got bad eyes all right," "I'll bet he's got notches on his gun. Say, If Uncle Luck dles " Bob left the result to the Imagination. The excitement at the Circle C In creased. Horses cantered up. Men ; shouted to each other the new. Oc casionally some one came In to ha a look at the "bad man" who had ahot Lack Culllson. Young Flandrau lay on a cot and stared at the celling, paying no more attention to them tban 'f they had been blocks of wood. The crunch of wagon wheels oyer disintegrated granlt drifted to the hunkhouse, "They're bringing the boss back," Buck announced from the door to one of his visitors. The man Joined him and looked over his shoulder. "Miss Kate there too?" "Yep. Kay. If the old man don't pull through It will break her all up." The boy on the bed turned hla face to the wall. He had not cried for ten years, but now he would have liked the relief of tears. A big lump rose la his throat and would not stay down. Tba Irony of it wus that he was ataged for the port of a gray wolf on the howl, while he felt more like a little child that has lost Its last friend. After a time there came again ths crisp roll of wheels. "Doc Brown," announced Buck cas ually to the other men In the bunk house. There was more than one anxious heart at the Circle C waiting for the verdict of the bowlegged, baldheaded little man with the satchel, but not one of them no, not even Kate Cul llson herself wns In a colder fear than Flandrau. for If Culllson should die he knew that be would follow htm within u few hours. These men would take no chances with the deluys of the luw. The men at the buDkhouse had of fered more than once to look at Cur ly's arm, but the young man declined curtly. The bleeding had stopped, but there wim a throb In It as If some one were twisting a redhot knife In the wound. After a time Doctor Brown showed up In the dxirway of the men's qnurter. "Another patient here, they tell me," he grunted In the brusque way that failed to conceal the kindest of hearts. "Let's have a look at your arm, young fellow," the doctor ordered., (To he continued.) Watch for the next installment. DISTRICT GROWS GOOD STOCK Livestock "as good as the stock back east" is no longer good enough for the Pacific northwest, and it is high time for growers here to make up their minds to have them better, says E. L. Potter, head of the animal husbandry department at O. A. C. They can breed the best stock and will find it profitable to let the world know it, he believes Superiority 6f western feed and climate for fine stock production is not booster talk hut a hard, plain fact that 6hould bo made use of, he explains. 11 ksw 7 j 1 yV?3K M hi it. M I! II UH H, ffJ UHtLLM li UML mm HEADQUARTERS I have a new shipment of very pretty Val entines ranging in price from 5 cents up. Come in and look them over. w m WILSON'S VARIETY STORE O. H. Wilson, Manager 337 Main Street