To the Last Man

de passed the log cabin of Evarts, father of

call! Evarts and his son appeared so quickly as

sbel. "I'm wantin' a

down an' come in

that he was not to join in the Isbel-Jorth war. Evarts had worked for the Isbels a long time, and his faithfulness, along with something stro

unting, Isbel, as if he remembered somethin

you bury B

replied the lad. "I shore was gla

oot the

-I got skeered.... The sheep was doin' fine. Good water an'

ome back y'u can call them sheep yours.... I'd like your boy to ride up to the villa

and asked him why he had wanted the Evarts boy to come to Grass Valley. And the old man replied that, as the boy could run to and fro in the village without danger, he might be useful in r

o see while they avoided being seen. No doubt the whole settlement was in a state of suspense and terror. Not unlikely this dark, closely grouped band of horsemen appeared to them as Jorth's gang had looked to J

hards and gardens and running north, toward the center of the village. Could these be friends of the Jorth crowd, on the way with warnings of the approach of the Isbels? Jean felt convinced of it. He was learning that his father had not been absolutely correct in his estimation of the way

e Abel Meeker's cabin. Jean espied the same curiosity from behind Meeker's door and windows as had been shown all al

he said. "What'

it's shore started," replied Isbel. "I

round to Jim's," returned Meeker. "An'

leadin' any more kin an' fr

e damn bad to jine with y'u.... My

d?" ejaculated

mpbell said thet Ted went into Greaves's place last night.

ed Isbel, with a dark smile, "an

w comprehension and a

re drinkin' hard, an' they raised a row with Ted-same old sheep talk an' somebody s

e in this. Maybe Ted's not bad hurt. I shore hope s

hunch. If this heah fight lasts long the whole d

ke in Blaisdell. "An' that's why

," whispered Meeker, a

d correct," dr

s into his beard. "Say, was

Jean's forty-four.... An' I reckon

uy Isbel?" de

be obliged if y'u 'll hurry your folks away, an' let us have

ll," replied Meeker, as he

wait till y

nt had been expected, and the little town awoke to the imminence of the impending battle. Inside Meeker'

n the wide road, at the point where it turned, stood Greaves's fort-like stone house. Low, flat, isolated, with its dark, eye-like windows, it presented

ed good hoss steps are separatin' us

nor grimmer than those of his comrades, but more representative of intense preoccupation of mind. The look of him thrilled Jean, who could sense its deadliness, yet could not grasp any more. Altogether, the manner o

ed by the others of his party. "Somebody look after the hosses," ordered Isbel, as he dismounted a

n him, to unburden himself of some load. This peculiarity of Bill's had become marked when he was perfectly sober. Yet he had never spoken or even begun anything unusua

Greaves's store, keepin' out of gunshot till we find good cover, an' t

e off without a

id Jean, ponderingly. "Jorth has lots of

He's not to be bucked ag'in' now. Struc

y anythin' about what he an' th

got the same as me. I reckon we'd be

ugh ... Dad's no fool. Colmor, you wait here till I get out of sight. I'll go round an' co

oaching a cabin of that side, and some of its inmates descried him, Their actions attested to their alarm. Jean half expected a shot from this quarter, such were his growing doubts, but he was mistaken. A man, unknown to Jean, closely watched his guarded movements and then waved a hand, as if to signify to Jean that he had nothing to fear. After this act he disappeared. Jean believed that he had been recognized by some one not antagonistic to the Isbels. Therefore he passed the cabin and, coming to a thick scrub-oak tree that offered shelter, he hid there to watch. From this spot he could see the back of Greaves's store, at a distance probably too far for a rifle bullet to reach. Before him, as far as the store, and on each side, extended the village common. In front of the store ran the road.

t. All his efforts to catch a glimpse of Bill, however, were fruitless. And this appeared strange to Jean, for there were

llage. Watching and listening, he felt that the time dragged. Yet the shadows cast by the sun show

llowed by revolver shots, heavy, booming. Three he counted, and the rest were too close together to enumerate. A single hoarse yell pealed out, someh

ere, with hands like steel on his rifle, with eyes of a falcon, but added to a dreadful, dark certainty of disaster. A rifle shot swiftly followed by revolver shots! What could, they mean? Revolver shots of different caliber, surely fired by different men! What could they mean? It was not these shots that accounted for Jean's dread, but the yell which had followed. All his intelligence and all his ne

th rifles ready. The road, to Jean's flashing glance, was apparently deserted. Blue sat on the doorstep, lighting

rokenly, and with big hand shaking he

n's recognition was as swift as his sight. His father! They had killed him! The Jorths! It was done. His father's premonition of death had not been false. And then, after these flashing thoughts, came a sense of blankness, mome

it?" whis

like a lion.... An' he throwed his life away! Oh, if it hadn't been for that it 'd not be so awf

ps framed a qu

continued Blaisdell, and he

gged one way or another in this deal. An' shore it doesn't matter much how a fellar gits it. All

ark spirit, the acceptance of fatality, the mounting control of faculties that must wait. The little gunman seemed to have about his ine

f smoke. "But he reckoned too late. Mebbe years; ago-or even not long ago-if he'd called Jorth out man to m

e-how it-happe

n him give the boy somethin', which I afterward figgered was what he wrote on the leaf out of the Bible. Me an' Blaisdell both tried to git out of him what thet meant. But not a word. I kept watchin' an' after a while I seen young Evarts slip out the back way. Mebbe half an hour I seen

thin lips. He drew twice on the cigarette and emitted another cloud of smoke. Quite suddenly then he c

ad-mebbe a hundred steps. Then he halted. He wore his long

st out Blaisdell, com

ad a hunch then. I called him. Blaisdell begged him to come back. All the fellars; had a say. No use! Then I shore cussed him an' told him it was plain a

e was fine to see him. But I was sick. I heerd Blaisdell groan, an' Fredericks thar cussed somethin' fierce.... When your dad halted-I reckon aboot fifty

rown gradually to denote his feeling. Underneath

ave hit your dad low down, aboot the middle. He acted thet way, sinkin' to his knees. An' he was wild in shootin'-so wild thet he must hev missed. Then he wabbled-an' Jorth run in a dozen steps, shootin' fast, t

en Jean bowed his head in his hands, and sat there, while a slight tremor shook all his muscles at once. He grew deathly cold and deathly sick. This parox

what your dad expected-an' what we all must look for.... If yu was goin

nd his voice had a cold ring. "Lee Jo

him, there was still a haunting consciousness of the cruelty of this singular doom imposed upon him. Strangely

bel's body soon as we dare, an' bury

lars figger thet out. I'm thinkin'

en in that dark square stone house down the road. He paced to and fro in the yard, back and forth on the path to the gate, and then he entered t

e men in," he

, with eager faces turned to the littl

brothers. I had to think of a good many ways before I hit on one I reckon will be shore. It's got to be SHORE. Jorth has got to die! Wal, heah's my plan.... Thet Jorth outfit is drinkin' some, we can gamble on it. They're not goin' to leave thet store. An' of course they'll be expectin' us to start a fight. I reckon they'll

ole face setting in hard cast of intense preoccupatio

ur trick?" dema

'd never think of us chargin' them in there. Wal, as soon as it's dark, we'll go round behind the lots an' come up jest acrost the road from Greaves's. I reckon we'd better leave Isbel where he lays till this fight's over. Mebbe y'u 'll have more 'n him to bury. We'll crawl behind them bushes in front of Coleman's yard. An' heah's where Jean comes in. He'll take an ax, an' his

and fence, the back door and window, and especially a break in the stone foundation which led

ough to see an' listen-then you're to run fast an' swing your ax smash ag'in' the winder. Take a quick peep in if y'u want to. It might help. Then jump quick an' take a swing at the door. Y'u 'll be standin' to one side, so if the gang shoots through the door they won't hit y'u. Bang thet doo

t all?" ejacul

it's a hell of a lot," responded Blue

do we c

e his brothers. Mebbe I'll get a crack at Queen. But I'll be shore of Jorth. After thet all depends. Mebbe it '

ike your plan," declared Blaisdell. "Success depends upo

better than y'u," replied Blue. "A gun figh

or of Greaves's store is b

got any bar

re sh

ckon," rep

takin' a terrible cha

ally comprehend how the little gunman had taken such desperate chances before, and meant to take them now

ver heah of me in Tex

rancher, apologetically. "An' Isbel was always so

e's not

en-if I'm safe to ask?" re

Fisher," re

felt amaze, and some other emotion not fully realized, when he found himself face to face wit

nched in Texas. An' so I'm goin' to kill Jorth. Now I'll take it kind of y'u-if any of y'u come out of this alive-to tell who I was an' why I was on the Isbel side. Because this sheep an' cattle w

t Blaisdell, in rage and amaze. "But I reckon y'u know what

Yet something in Bill's look or in the way Blue averted his lean face or in the entrance of Bill at that particular moment, or all these together, seemed to Jean to add further mystery to the long secret causes leading up to the Jorth-

sed Jean, with bitterness. "It's too late now for either to do any good.... But

tched; they came in again, restless and somber. Jean thought that he must have bent his gaze a thousand times down the road to the tragic figure of his father. That sight roused all emotions in his breast, and the one that stirred there most was pity. The pity

ps, in close convening groups. Every move they, made seemed significant of their confidence and importance. About sunset they went back into the store, closing door and window shutters. Then Blaisdell called the Isbel fac

came. Not a light showed

e lot. Jean strode behind him, carrying his rifle and an ax. Silently the other men followed. Blu

aid to Jean. "An' heah's the back of Co

the gleam of Blue's eyes. Jean had no response in words for the laconic

h gray in his thin hair was in reality the great King Fisher! Jean marveled at the fact. And he shivered all over for Jorth. In ten minutes-fifteen, more or less, Jorth would lie gasping bloody froth and sinking down. Something in the dark, lonely, sile

ng in the center of Greaves's store. Jean listened. Loud voices and coarse laughter sounded discord on the melancholy silence of

ensely to the action at hand. He seemed to magnify his hearing and his sight.

thick like a cloud, but was really clear, shone the thin, bright point of light, accentuating the black square that was Grea

of men sounded more distinctly, some deep and low, others

here had been a guard stationed outside the store Jean would have seen him before being seen. He saw the fence, reached it, entered the yard, glided in the dense shadow of the barn until the black square began to loom gray-the color of stone at night. Jean p

Jorth's. It strung Jean's whole being tight and vibrating. Inside he was on fire while cold thrills rippled over his skin. It took tremendous effort of will to hold h

r and window. He leaned his rifle against the stone wall. Then he swung the ax. Crash! The window

e door. Smash! The lower half caved in and bange

in loud alarm. "They're

n the splintered door. C

shouted another voice. "Shove

at denoted terror as well. "Let them co

the hoarse reply. "They'll s

e lamp!" ye

benches across the floor and the hard shuffle of boots. This confusion seemed to be split and silenced by a piercing ye

ANYBODY

frozen into unnatural positions. Jorth stood rather in front of his men, hatless and coatless, one arm outstretched, and his dark profile set toward a little man ju

demanded Jorth,

came the biting reply. "Once tolerabl

outlaw and realized his own fate. In the lamplight his face turned

in the middle. His hands fluttered like crippled wings and found their way to his abdomen. His death-pale face never changed its set look nor position toward Blue. But

of guns emphasized the blackness. Inside the store there broke loose a pandemonium of shots, yells, curses, and thudding boots. Jean shoved his rifle barrel inside the door and, holding it low down, he moved it to and fro while he worked lever and trigger until the magazine was empty. Then, drawing his six-shooter, he emptied that. A roar of rifles from the front of the store told Jean that his comrades had entered the fray. Bullets zipped thro

dell!" he cal

e rancher, looming up. "Wal,

eried Jean

an!" said Blue, dryly. "Y'u shore did your part. Rec

oice of Gordon, a few yards

d?" asked Jean, anxiously. The young man's head rolled and hung. He

were still firing. "We'll let well enough alone.... Fredericks, y'u

g himself along in the rear. It was too dark to see distinctly; nevertheless, Jean got the impression that Blue was more severely wounded than he had claimed to be. The distance to Meeker's ca

u?" called Blaisd

ts-on-anyhow," rep

d and slid down on the

s if by tacit, unspoken word, lowered the body of Isbel to the ground. Then Blaisdell kne

was Queen! ... Y'u all heerd me-Queen was-only bad man in that lot. I knowed i

oice fai

aculated

King Fisher," whispered Blue. "Funnier-whe

sper di

ng no answer, he bent lower in the starlig

Texas King Fisher. No one would ever believe it....