Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Exeter Times-Advocate, 1931-04-23, Page 3'T* THE EXETER TIMES-AEVOCATE i >1 TUG EfR tEYE TIGER ,EYE FOURTH XNSTALMWNT Kjd*s name "was Bob Reeves, but f>ack home on the Brgjsos they iicaUed him Tiger Eye, because one ■eye was yellow—the eye with which he sighted idiown a gun- t»arreL Reeves, tp kill,, would i .father’s liorse, Pecos, northward and .countered Nate 4rew his .45 and fired as Tiger JEye did, to kill Nate, only cripple him, but (his aim must have been, wild', for Wheelei' dropped from his horse, Babe Garner camp riding up, Wheeler was a “nester,” he. said, and. had it coming to him, Tiger Hye rode to Wheeler’s (cabin to notify the diead man’s widow, The Kid breaks the news of Spate's death to his widow and /then goes out and brings in his (body, discovering lie had: not miss­ ed ilia shot to disable Wheeler but Siad broken liis arm, while an* ether shot had killed the man. A |pang of strangers ridies up, One «■£ them insults Mrs. Wheeler by coupling her name with the etranger. The Kid shoots a hole each of the ears of Pete, Gor- liahi. who hurled the insult, mak­ ing his escape in the confusion. Learning that the “nesters” #!an to draw the Poole riders into <a trap, the Kid informs Garner, telling him at the same time lie liad lqarned it was the latter’s Allot that killed) Wheeler and not (his own. Garner is grateful and gets the boy a job riding range ‘for the Poole outfit. The Kid fiees a lone rider attack a. man and a girl driving in a wagon and wounds 'the assail’ant, and then finds out- ’lie is Gorham. His father was “Killer” but the boy did not want If he stayed home have to carry on l’euds, so he- headedi he. his his en- Wheeler, who The Kid did not want it for the hill like a boy* her hair loose and waving out behind her like a yellow fl&g. The fellow after the girl was try* ing to catch her (before she got in among the rocks where he couldn’t ride. It klnda looked as if she might make it all right, especially, when ■she went over that wash in ■one long jump like a deer- and the fellow’s horse' balked and reared back on the edge, The man yelled again, pulled down with his gun and sent a bullet kieking up the dust in front of her. That scared her so she stepped, not knowing which way to turn. The fellow didn’t shoot again but took down his rope and jumped; off Iris horse. The kid was waiting, with his bine left eye squinted nearly shut and his yellow right eye open and staring like a tiger. They kept coming closer and closer, and the kid’s gun ‘barrel jabbed' forward and spat. The man was widening his loop as he ran, but he dropped it as his arm jerked down to his side. He wore two guns, though. He started to draw a second gun with his left hand, but the kid fired another shot. The man gave a lurch and almost fell. Suddenly he sat right down wherb he was and) leaned over side- wise, acting kinda sick; When the kid took another look at the girl, she was lying on the heap, like she’d .The kid did not say anything to that. “Say, you goin’ to promise me yuh won’t take no more ichanees. like that?” Babe pressed the point. “You jgot something mor'e under your hat than what you tolfl. me. Damn you, Tiger Eye, what more y‘on been doin’ -to-night?” *The kid turned and looked long Rabe. oyer his cup... His, yellow ■eye was curiously softened, “I been bearin’ talk about Nate Wheeler,” he said, finally, and blink­ ed when he saw how Babe failed to repress a start. “I been findin’ out 1 didn’t shoot s.o> wide. I aimed to lus .gun ah in down, and. that ahm j&hoah was hit, just like I aimed it would be.” “Yeah?” Babe’s eyes took on a {hard, watchful look. * “I heahd men say it was a rifle Bullet, hit him in the head,’' the kid brawled softly. “X reckon yo’all thought he was going to shoot me. 3 ■shoah am much aibleeged to yo’all, Babe.” Z "Bafbe Garner' stared, then laughed shortly and turned away. _ /‘You’re welcome, Tiger Eye.” He turned and began thumping- pillows . “Which side Me, I like to lay I can roll out with savage energy, the bed you want? ■on the edge, where <nrick.” “Just lay Wheah Best, Balbe,’ yo’all. feels the grinned the kid swhl- towing the last of the coffee. “I’m sleeping sound to-night, no matter wheah I lay my ’haid.” The kid was coming along the rim. ©T the Big Bench a day or two later jplaying his mouth-organ as he rode, -{Softly because yo’all had to be .jnighty careful nobody dioiwn in the Walley noticed and took a long .shot ®t you, just for lucre. But shucks! ‘Wo’all couldn’t hear that mouth or­ gan any further’s you could flip a UMXcfci with, your thuinb and finger. iBad country up this way. Nice •country, but plumb full of orney no- siccount epw thieves that wouldn’t -.wait to .see if a fellow was all right tnit would holler, “Draw, you coyote .and, come a-shootin,g', 3ike. Funliy, though. If hadn’t come Tiding jthat-a-way, tlie kid ^6uldn’t have anet u.p with Babe Garnet. It shoah Was worth riding all the way up from Texas to- Montana, just to meet up with a fellow as nice and friendly as ’33a.be Garner. , Ghoah was snaky kind.a country though. The kid didn’t know m.11 the ihs and oitts of the fuss, way Baibe told it, 'Hot on like they banded! together Toole, which was itit, Babe said the nesters .'^teferilitg the Poole blind and the bosses back East wanted it stopped. Habe said the pools wouldn’t stand «or no more, and they iiow looked ton All cbiV thieves same as they did on wlves^varmihts ;to be got rid of. Thiers, Babe said, and that was why 3ie ho-de at the ki’d that-a-way. .sNdte Wheeler was gunning for Fools plumb crazy Nate Wheeler and shooting cow thieves, were nesters, to wipe out a big Eastern just . 'The that had the ■out- Wofe riders* Bqbp saifl and tlmt was why, be rode at the kid, that-a-way, He played absently, his thoughts dwelling on what Babe had said. Babe seemed to think Poole riders hafl to be fighters. Reckon he ought to tell Babe he wouldn’t kill tor no map; he’d seen top much oit that back home. Anyway Babe never asked him a word about that part, If he did, the kid would tell him straight out where he stood, Poole riders kinda expected to down a man for keeps if ,it came to gun play between them and pesters, the kid reckoned, Babe said the Pioiole had tried the law and it would not work, because the Poole was an Eastern firm and all the nesters and town folks hung together. No jury in the country would convict a cow thief, Babe said. So the Poole was going to' shoot it out with the gang. The kid’s job was to ride, along up here on the rim, just' lazy like, and watch through field glasses for any bunch of cattle being rounded up or driven along in the nester country below, Anything that look­ ed like a round-up down there, or even a bunch of riders going any­ where, the kid.was to ride to the top of a small pinnacle', standing back from the rim of the bench, and. sig­ nal with a little, round looking- glass, Babe Garner had given him. | It wasn’t much of a job. The kid ground all in a would rather ride with Babe, where- Tafijted or been shot or something, ever it was lie had stru)c’k out for at R® watfehed her for a minute and daylight, j__ _____ —......... ...... ’ i’ he didn’t-want anybody along, ;The kid watched faithfully^ for awhile, halting Pecos behind bowl­ ders while he got off and focused the glasses .on this ranch and that ranch and the tranquil range land in between. Quiet as Sunday after­ noon in a, Quaker village, down there. The kid swung the glasses farther into the coulee and along the trail to the gate, and on up to Wheeler’s cabin. There he held them steady, little puckers, showing in tbe skin around his eyes, he squinted so. His lips fell slightly apart as he watch­ ed. No wonder the valley was empty and no nesters were stirring! Having a .funeral for Nate Wheeler, that was why. Yard full of -wagons and saddle horses, meu standing around outside the house," not talk­ ing but just" standing, there, looking sour. • Every one packing guns. The-kid sharpened the' focus a little, Still gating witli- his forehead wrinkled, trying to figure out what was wrong. Now the men were edg­ ing back'from the dioor^—plain as if he stood in the yard with them he could see ali they did; plain as look­ ing at a play’ on the stage. Fetch­ ing the coffin out now. Just, a board box with strap handles'hailed, on, nesters all stretching their nelcks like turkeys in a grain field, mind­ ing ‘their manners buC wanting to see it fa.ll, (Something mighty strange, though. And-the kid knew what it was. There weren’t any women, at that funeral. Nate Wheel­ er had a wife and: baby, but they weren’t there, either. Just men, riot dressed, up in their Sunday clothes, but wearing colored shirts and overalls. Not sbaved, 'either. Looked) like they had just stopped by from their work. Plenty of ‘guns though, and belts full of shells.. The kid starefl for two seconds .longer andtook’ the', field glasses from his eyes. - Instantly that 'grim gathering in the coulee receded) into the slight movement of vague dots three miles apd more away. The scene WdS gone, wiped put by the distance. In­ stead, the kid was staring down off the hill at a wagon that came rattl­ ing down »a long slope direcly -to­ ward him. The driver was sanding up, lashing the horses into , a run, with the long ends of the lines which he siwung like- a flail upon, their backs. The wagon was bouncing along over hummocks find, a woman with her bonnet Off and. her hair ■flying straight out behind her like the tail of a running horse, was hanging to the seat like grim death. A. man on horseback came tearing up over the top of the little ridge. He started shooting, but he didn’t hit anything at first and. the team came on,’ leaving the road at the first turn and flown the slope. The horseman shooting, andi at driver made a sudden dive down on one of the horses, rolled off onto the ground, and lay still. The team shied violently aside and snagged the fi’ont wheels in a big (clump Of buckbush which they tried to straddle. The girl Jumpedi out and started running for the. hill, the. man taking after her, yelling at her to stop* But She didilt do it, though, .She was a girl, all right, The kid knew that as soon as 'she jumped out and started ruririiiig. She. didn’t run‘like a woman. This one legged 3 MM 11UU mv* v *v* *-a m But Babe didn’t act like *saw she didn't move,, so he went tipped his hat to her. “You hurt, Fa?” Ths girl sank on hex* knees geside the- old man, “Pete shot yon, didn’t he?” “Pete? Pets who? The horses run- away. Guess they thro-wed me out. "Where was we gpin’, Nellie? Wasn’t we goin* some place?” “We were going home, Pa.” She was kneeling there,, looking -at the blue lump on heh father’s head! and from there her staring eyes turned to the, bullet wound in his side which the kid had ’ left uncovered ready for further ablutions of raw whiskey. “Don’t you i remember when Pete Gorham took in after us, after Nate Whetier’s funeral, and you remembered; you never got your gyn back from the bartender be* ■fore you jeft town?” “Pete Gorham! Who’s he? I ;don’t remember any—*” * The kid’s hand left its slow strok* ing of the horse’s sweaty jaw, I-Ie walked oyer and stood ‘beside the kneeling girl, -bashful and’ determin* ed. “Scuse me,” he said diffidently, gun-hand to his hat brim when she 'look|ed up. “Did yo’all say Nate .Wheeler’s funeral taken place yps- jte'day?” IV checked ; troubled on the Stranger know—’ upward. Poole rim riders?” “I happened to be up theah when Pete Gorham shot yoh pap,” lie said, with slow meaning. “I taken upon myse’f to stop Pete beforah could carry opt his plan,” “Well, wasn’t you rim riding the valley?” “I just the time.” “You’re » “Poole! man scrambled to" a sitting posture, his face working furiously ’as mem­ ory came back with o- rush. “One of them Texas killers, I betcha! Was it you dry-gulclied my son, Efl? Where’s my gun?” He clawed fu/ tiley nt his hip, wi^re no gun was holstered. “No, sub, it wasn’t me.” I The girl gave an involuntary shud* .dor and (dosed her eyes for a secnnfl, “Even -if he is a poole rider,. Pa, he—-did us a big favor,” she said,, a little color staining her cheeks, “We have got to be grateful for that.” shot, talk*. Nate her* galloping straight spurred closer, still the third shot the jumping down the bluff like a loos­ ened bowlder. He was plu-mb sorry for her and, he hoped she wasn’t hurt, but lie hung back and Vlidm’t- want to touch her or turn her over to see if she was dead. Her hair was all down over her face, and it was the long­ est yellowest hair lie. liad ever seen in his life. She -gave a deep gasp­ ing sigh and he stepped back a little further. (She hadi just fainted. $he’d be coining to in a minute, and . she wouldn’t thank him for. standing there gawping at her that-a-way. ., The- kid walked over and stood looking down at the fellow on. the ground. The man glared up at him like a trapped wolf.-Both ears were swollen and red, .a puckery round hole showed in the outstanding shell of each. '• ■ " - “When I plugged them eahs,” lie, dirawledi ‘contemptuously, “I shoah thought yo’all was just plain skunk. I ’wisht I’d know.^-- then yo’all was half skunk and half .Sidewindah!” Old man, all right. Her old pap- .py, shot • without a chance in the world to help himself. Didn’t even have a gun onhim. Old farmer, by the look of him. Bald-headed and little and old. The kidi investigated his head in­ jury. Didn't sPem to be any crack in the skull, but still you couldn’t tell, with an old man like him. The kid got up and looked in, the wagon. A sack of flour was there, and a box of groceries, all jumbled together, and) a demijohn lying on its side. The kid hoped it held whiskey, and reached in a long arm for it. Shoah enough—old pappy liked his eye opener ■when.i he got up in the morning, and, was*' taking­ home a. jugful. The kid gave him an eye opener now, holding his head up- and tilting the jug to the ashy lips pinched in together in the long beard. Then he poured a little in his palm and' rub'bedi it on the blue­ lump in the thin gray hair, and at* ter, that he trickled a pungent little stream on the bullet wound, front and ’back. The man’s faded blue eyes opened andi he stared vaguely • up into-the kid’s face. “Reckon yo’all feelin’ some bet- tah, sub,” the kid said shyly. “Right smaht crack on the haid, but the whiskey’ll keep down the swellin’.” And when the old eyes still ques­ tioned, the kid offered further en* cour’agement. “Bullet dug itse’f a trail in yo’all’s side, but it ain’t deep no how.” The old man opened his mouth and moved his jaw tn'g to speak. His the 'k|id’.S face. “Where’s Nellie? was still daged, but speak once more, sigh of relief, “Why, .suit, she— looked cornin’, SUh.” The •little, but he seemed vague idea of what had taken place. “Team run away,” he mumbled. “Thro wed me- out, , Where’s Nellie? She was in the wagon when the team run away,” She came, hei’ long' yellow half pulledi forward der. Her face mouth drooped her eyes were but the kid thought she was beauti­ ful and he blushed1 a dark red as he uncertainly, try* eyes never left ’ The oldi mah at least he could The kid gave a ■” he turned and -she’s heah directly* back toward the hill “• She’ll be. dr.iiik revived the old man a to have only a over her left shout* Was pale and her at the corners, and glassy with terror, Why, of course it was-*—” she herself abruptly, -ope- swift, glance going to her father ground. “You must fie a in the valley if you don’t •” She cast a swift, suddenly “Are you one of them “Are* you the fellow who Pete in the ears? They were ing about that yesterday at Wheeler’s fume—” she caught self up, biting her lip, “Nate wheeler’s funeral,” the kid finished softly. . “Yes'm, I had the pleasnah of eah-markin’ Pete the othah evenin’.” “Then you’re one of those Texas killers. They said! it was a Texas killer done that. Pa, ain’t you able; to get in the wagon? I can drive, if you can sit .and ride.” She was in a hurry to get away from hiity even though he had saved her from Pete Gorham, Saved her and he:- patppy’s life, andi this was all the thanks he got. . The kid swung on his heel, and gave all his attention to backing the wagon off the buckbush so the team could be turned around/ ' He worked swiftly, surely, Qax?4rii>,le hands new wasting > mo­ tion, jwer niwtoln oc wMt W .should accomplish, The team wa„s restless, wanting to go "home, and the kid turned to the girl, “If yo’all would be so aecownio- datin’ as to come hold these Uw a minute/* he eaid stiffly, “1*4 be shoah pleased’ to tote yoh pap oYuh and lay . him in the?wagon,” “I kin walk, dan ye! ” the plfl fel* low cried pettishly, But he could* n’t, except with the help of the kid’s, arm under big shoulders, taking all the weight oft the. wobbly legs. “iVe’re mulch obliged/* the girl said constrainedly, after’ he had lift* ed the old man into the wagon. Even if you are a rim rider tor the Poole, I want to thank you for—all you've done.” Then she looked at Pete Gorham* who sat cursing beside a sage-hush* took her down off the huh, and came over to where the kid stood, stroking the nose of the horse he was holding by the ibridle. “If you don’t kill Pete Gorham* fierce under*kill you,” .she said in. a tone, ’“Reckon it’ll be a while befo’ he’s able.” not look at her, (To be continued) , right smaht The kid did- / happened to be heali at a poole rider, ain’t you?” Poole rider!” The old Suffered From Heart Trouble Became Weak and Run Down Mra, Wm. Diotte, Glensandfiejd, Ont., writes:—- “For a long period I suffered from heart trouble, and became very weak and run, down. I tried various * remedies, but they did me no, good. “One day I met a friend and told her of my trouble. She said she had had heart trouble for two years too, but after using Milburn’s Heart and Nerve Fills for a short tirbe she had been relieved of her trouble, so I ?;ot two boxes, and after taking them I was again eeling fine, and always recommend H. and N. Pills to anyone complaining of heart trouble.”. Sold at all drug, and- general, stores, or mailed direct on receipt of price by The T. MUbum Co., Ltd.* Toronto, Opt. ” 4 f I ■fr 4. T" .»• New Bodies by Fisber ® . for the New Chevrolet IN the new Chevrolet Six with longer wheelbase, you wiU quickly notice that Fisher Body craftsmen have created the roomiest and most beautiful body styles in Chevrolet history. Yet prices have been substantially reduced. The smart, modem lines of the car are emphasized by the deepened radiator and new de luxe wire wheels . . . distinctive color harmonies and chrome-plate trimmings add a finishing touch. ■, , , Interiors are roomier . . . beautifully upholstered . \ . and fashionably appointed. The front compartments are fully insulated against heat, cold and noise. • See the new Chevrolet Six at our showrooms. Yon can own it with even more pride . . . buy it for even less money. Your Chevrolet dealer is listed under “General Motors** in the classified section of your 1931 ’phone directory. . . . Ask him about the G M A C' plan of deferr&d pay­ ments, and the General Motors Owner Service Policy. Ride in any one of the twelve smart, fine-performing models ... priced from $610 at factory, taxes extra. “&orwart) Gana^a! ” ' Across the Dominion is sweeping a wave of national enthusiasm ... free and unbounded. Canadians everywhere are striking forward on the rising tide of a fresh and vigorous prosperity. Genelral Motors of Canada, Limited, pays tribute to Canadian achievement with "Canada on Parade", a radio hour every Friday evening, typifying the spirit of Canada’s pro­ gress. You are cordially invited to tune in on this all-Catiadian broadcast. Mam SIK NEW CHEVROLET SIX A GENERAL MOTORS VALUE MILO SNELL, EXETER ASSOCIATE DEALERS: JOHN PASSMORE, HENSALL, ONT. C. FRITZ & SON, ZURICH, ONTARIO