Jasper County Democrat, Volume 11, Number 71, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 February 1909 — The Round-Up [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

The Round-Up

A ‘Romance of Arizona Novelized From Edmund Day's Melodrama

SYNOPSIS. Chapter I—Returning with gold from the mines to an Arizona ranch to claim Echo Allen, his promised bride, Dick Lane is attacked by Apaches led by Buck McKee, a renegade. After spending six months in a hospital Lane writes to his friend Jack Payson, owner of the Sweetwatw - ranch, to tell Echo he is coming home. He tells Payson he has $3,000 to pay a mortgage placed by Jack on his ranch to help him. ll—Colonel Jim Allen, owner of the Bar One ranch, is father of Echo and father by adoption of Polly Hope, Dick and Bud Lane. Polly and Bud are sweethearts. In Dick’s absence Echo falls in love with Jack, realizing that her love for Dick was merely friendship. Dick is believed to bte dead, owing to the return of McKee with a lying story. Bud “chunky with McKee despite the warnings of Slim Hoover, the fat and popular sheriff. Echo and Jack become engaged. 111. Echo declares to Jack after the latter suppresses Dick’s letter, fearing to lose her, that she will be true to her promise to Dick if he returns. Bud quarrels with Jack about Echo, the boy championing his absent brother’s cause. IV—Aided by Bud, McKee murders Terrill, the station agenti stealing from him $3,000 of county money. McKee suggests to Bud that Dick may still be living. V—The boys gather at the Allen ranch for the wedding of Echo and Jack.

CHAPTER V—Continued. "Polly was flattered by the comments and the glances of the boys, which expressed their approval of her appearance more loudly than spoken words. She pretended, however, to be annoyed. “Go ’long,’ she said. “Where’s Bud Bane? Didn’t you give him his Invite?” The boys turned from one to the other with feigned glances of disgust at being slighted by Polly for an absent one. The one sided courtship of Bud and Polly was known up and down the valley, and indefinite postponement of their wedding day was one of the jests of the two ranches. “Oh, we sent It on to him at Florence. He’ll git It in time If he ain’t gone to the Lazy K with Buck McKee,” said Sagebrush; then, turning to the other cowboys, he added in an aggrieved tone, “Polly ain’t got no eyes for no one excep' Bud.” Polly stepped to Allen’s side and, laying her head on his shoulder, said, “Ain’t I?” Allen patted the girl’s head. He was very fond of her, looking upon her as another daughter. Polly smiled back into his face and then, with a glance at the cowboys, > said. “Say, Uncle Jim, there’s some bottles to be opened.” The Invitation was an indirect one, but all knew what It meant and started for the house. “Root beer.” added Polly mischievously. “The corks pull awful Allen glanced at her in feigned alarm. “What do you want to do—stampede the bunch?” Before she could answer the approach of a horse attracted, the attention of the group. “There’s Jack now!” cried Sagebrush In tones which plainly showed his relief. “No, it ain’t,” he added reflectively. “He rode his pacin’ nnare, an’ that’s a trottin’ horse.” The cry of the rider was heard quieting his mount. Allen recognized the voice. “It’s Slim Hoover,” he cried. Polly clapped her hands and said mischievously to Sagebrush: “Now you’ll see me makin’ googoo eyes to somebody besides Bud Lane. I ain’t a-goin’ to be the only girl in Pinal county Slim Hoover ain’t set up to.” “An’ shied 1 off from,” added Sagebrush, a little nettled by Polly’s overlooking him as a subject for flirtation. “But whdt’s Slim doin’ over this way?’’ “Come to Jack’s weddin’, of course,” replied Polly, adding complacently, “An’ probably projectin’ a hitch-up of his own.” Slim ran around the corner .of the house directly into the crowd, who seized him before he could recover from his surprise and proceeded to haze him, to their intense delight and the sheriff’s embarrassment, for he knew that Polly was somewhere near enjoying his discomfiture. Polly waited until her victim was fully ready for her particular form of torture. The reception of the cowboys was crude to her refined form of making the fat sheriff uncomfortable. With the velvety cruelty of a flirt she held out her hand, saying, “Hello, Slim.” The sheriff flushed under his tan. The red crept up the back of his neck to his ears. He awkwardly took off his hat. With a bow and a scrape he greeted her, “Howdy, Miss Polly, howdy?” Meantime he shook her hand until she winced from the heartiness of the grip. “What’s the news?” she asked as she slowly straightened out her Angers one by one. “There’s been a killin’ over Florence way,” announced the sheriff, putting bn his bat and becoming an offlcfer of the law with duty to perform. “Who Is the mlsfortunate?” asked Sagebrush as they gathered about Hoover and listened Intently.

By JOHN MURRAY and MILLS MILLER

Murder In Arizona was a serious matter until punishment was meted out to the slayer or he was freed by his fellow citizens. Far from courts of Justice and surrounded by men to whom death was often merely an incident in a career of crime, the settlers were forced to depend upon themselves to keep peace on the border. They acted quickly, but never hastily. Judgment followed quickly on conviction. Their views were broad, and rarely were their decisions wrong. “ ‘Ole Man’ Terrill,” replied the sheriff. “Happened about 10 this morain’. Some man caught him alone in the railroad station an’ blowed his head half off.” “Do tell!” was Allen’s exclamation. “Yep,” continued the sheriff. “He must have pulled a gun on the fellow. He put up some sort of a fight, ns the room is some mussed up.” “Robbery?" queried Polly, with wide open eyes. “That’s what,” answered Slim, turning to her. “He had three thousan’ dollars pinned in his vest, county money for salaries. You know how he toted his wad around with him, defyin’ man or the devil to get it away from him? Well, some one who was both man an’ devil was too much for him.” “Who found him?” “I did myself. Went over around noon after the money. Didn’t stop to go back to town fer a posse. Trail was already too cold. Could tell it was a man that rode a pacin’ horse.” His auditors looked at each other, striving to remember who of their acquaintance rode a pacing horse. Sagebrush Charley shook his head. “Nobody down this way, ’eeptln’, of course, the boss, rides a pacer. Must be one of the Lazy K outfit, I reckon.” “Most likely,” said the sheriff. “He struck out south, probably to throw me off scent. Then he fell in with two other men, an’ this balled me up. I lost one of the tracks, but follered the Other two round Sweetwater mesa till I come where they rode into the river. Of course I couldn’t foller the trail any farther at that p’int, so, bein’ as I was near Uncle Jim’s. I rode over fer help to' look along both banks an’ pick up the trail wherever it comes out of the river. Sorry I must break up yer fun, boys, but some o’ you must come along with me. Duty’s duty. I want Sagebrush anyhow, as I s’pose 1 can’t ask fer Jack Payson.” Sagebrush pulled a long face. At any other time he would have jumped at the chance of running to earth the dastardly murderers of his old friend Terrill. But in the matter of thts his first experience of a wedding, he had tickled his palate so long with the sweets of anticipation that he could not bear to forego the culminating swallow of realization. “I don’t see why I shouldn’t be let off as well as Jack,” he grumbled. “Our cases is similar. You see, it’s my first weddin’,” explained the foreman to the sheriff.

The other cowboys howled with delight. The humor of the situation caught their fancy, and they yelled a chorus of protestation in Hoover’s ears. In this Colonel Allen joined. “Don’t spile the weddin’,” he pleaded. “This here event has already rounded up the Sweetwater outfit fer you an’ saved you more time than you’ll lose by waitin’ till it’s over. Then we'll all jine you.” Hoover commanded silence and, rolling a cigarette, gravely considered the proposition. He realized that the murderers should be followed up at once, but that if he forced the cowboys by the legal power he exercised to forego the pleasure they had been anticipating so greatly they would not be so keen in pursuit ns if they had first “given the boss his sendoff.” The considerations being equal, or, as he put it, “hoss an’ hoss,” It seemed to him wise to submit to Allen’s proposition, backed, as it was, by the justice of his plan that the occasion of the wedding had already saved valuable time in assembling the posse. He assented, therefore, but, to maintain the dignity of his office and control of the situation, with apparent reluctance. “Well, hurry up the sacreements an’ ceremonies, then, an’ the minute the preacher ties the knot every man of you but Jack am’ the parson an’ Uncle Jim gits on his hoss an’ toilers me. I’ll wait out in the corral” At this there was another storm of expostulation, led this time by Allen. Of course Hoover was to come to the wedding and be its guest of honor. “You shall be the first to wish Jack an’ Echo luck,” said Allen. “That means you’ll be the next one to marry.” The ruddy faced sheriff blushed to the roots of his auburn hair. “Much obliged, but I ain’t fixed up fer a weddin’,” and he looked down at his travel stained breeches, tucked In riding boots white with alkali dust, and felt of his buttonless waistcoat and gingham shirt open at the throat, with the bandanna handkerchief around his neck lp lieu of both collar and tie. Polly assured him that he would do very well as he was; that for her part ■he “wouldn’t want no better dressed man than him” to be present at he*

own wedding, not even ”lhe feUerl am goln’ to hitch up to,” whereat Slim Hoover was greatly set at ease. Polly was bounding up the piazza steps to tell Echo of the accession to her party when Hoover held up hia hand. A terrifying suggestion had flashed through his mind. “Hold on a minute!” he exclaimed, and, turning to Allen, he asked anxiously, “Does this here guest of honor have to kiss the bride?” The question was so foreign to the serious topic which had just been under discussion that every one laughed in relief of the nervous tension. Allen’s fun loving nature at once bubbled to the surface. With an air of assumed anger he said to the sheriff: “Of course; every guest has to do it.” Then, turning to the cowboys, he asked, “Is there any one here as hold 3 out strong objection to kissin’ my daughter?” “Not me,” laughed Sagebrush. “I’m here to go the limit.” “I’m an experienced kisser, I am,” said Parenthesis. “I don’t lose no chance at practice.” "I’ll take two, please,” simpered Fresno. Show Low. interrupted the general sally which followed this remark, saying, “I strings my chips along with Fresno.” “Slim’s afraid of females!” drawled Polly provokingly. “Oh, thunder!” exclaimed Slim to Polly. “No, I ain’t, nothin’ of the sort. I’m a peaceful man, I am. I never likes to start no trouble.” “Get out! What’s one kiss?” laughed Allen. “I’ve seen a big Jack pot of trouble opened by chippin’ in just one kiss,” wisely remarked the sheriff. Sagebrush at this point announced decisively, “The bride has got to be kissed.” Slim tried to break through the group and enter the house, thinking that by making such a move he would divert their attention and that the excitement of the wedding he could avoid kissing the bride, an ordeal which to him was more terrible than facing the worst gun fighter In Arizona. “I deputize you to do the kissin’ for me,” Slim said to Parenthesis, who had laid his hand •on the sheriff’s shoulder to detain him. “No, siree,” the cowboy replied; “not me. Every man does his own kissin’ in this game.” Slim halted as if undecided. Suddenly he turned on his heel and started for the corral. “I’ll wait outside,” he shouted. “No, you don’t!” cried his companions. Slim turned to face a semicircle of drawn revolvers. He looked from one man to another as if puzzled as to what move to make next. Allen was annoyed by the sheriff’s actions, taking it as an Insult that Hoover would not kiss his daughter, although he had started to twit the sheriff In the beginning. “You ain’t goln’ to insult me an’ mine that way. No man sidesteps kissin’ one of my kids,” he said angrily. Slim was plaintively apologetic. “I ain’t kissed a female since I was a yearlin’.” “Time you started,” snapped Polly.

“You kiss the bride or I take It pussenel,” said Allen, thoroughly aroused. “Well, if you put it that way I’ll do It,” gasped Slim In desperation. The agreement restored the boys to their good nature. “You will have to pnt blinders on me, though, an’ back me up,” cautioned Hoover. “We’ll hog tie you an’ sit on your head,” laughed Sagebrush as the guests entered the house. (To be Concluded.)

“No, you don't!" cried his companions.