1940-08-02 — Page 2

SHORT STORY

THE CHINA MAIL FRIDAY SUPPLEMENT, AUGUST 2, 1940

DEADLINE

courted him.

And Bat had eyes for none save! Sally Oliver.

That started the trouble.

By Lester Gregory

on

the

to- "Looks kinda like yuh jumped Men saw Bat's hand leap

soon, Hank,wards his open holster. What WHEN Hank Challoner, grizzledļfanning and dead men in Chey-jed after the Bar O rider. "I'm

said another.

they did not see was Pete's spur town marshal of Cheyennejenne streets. Steve rode in for a gonna Have law n' order in this to conclusion too

The marshal stood his. ground, suddenly rowel his bronc's flank, Sinks, decided that the Bar O out-show-down, and Bal's gun spoke town-"

The words were wasted on the! At had better not be allowed inside first

Steve was buried beside his air. But the news travelled like a but uncertainly. The wide barrel nor the tightening of his bridle. Almost on the heels of the word the town's confries he was taking

of the deadly shotgun lowered,

"Jest what yuh aimin' tuh do, the horse was lifted into the air.. with a serious step. He was placing a mother and father, under the old proirle fire.

In the Longhorn Bat Warren

Iron-shod feet kicked out deadline about Cheyenne Sinks. cottonwood spreading its branches

Hank had his reasons.

over the creek that gave the Ear leaned his elbows on the bar and Pete Oliver?" he demanded.

"Tak" a quiet sashay through cruel power, and the animal cata-

pulted forward. There had been too many shoot-O its water-supply. Word of what grinned at his satellities.

reached Pete, "It's jest a big bluff," he told the town, Marshal. Thassall." and had happened

Hank Challoner's eyes snapped. There was a thin cry. ings, and the blood-letting

New Mexico: everyone within earshot,. "Pete Chey-

"Pete Oliver," he said, "I ain't A Mexican standing gun-slinging had reached a head. bronc-twisting in Bat

havin' trouble. Get thet under yuh fringe of the crowd muttered, "Le Warren's Longhorn Saloon He came back, and the day before Oliver won't ride intuh was the centre of trouble. Bat was he arrived Sally Oliver left the enne."

up her old job Opinions were reserved. There green hide. I ain't havin' yuh get glope!" He knew what he was had Bar O and took

witnessing, the terrible charge of 0 quarrelsome man who

in Cheyenne were those who remembered the out of thet saddle."

The other laughed, and some horse and rider practised by the taken life as he found it. He had school-teaching

most dare-devil 'riders south of made money. He was hard, some Sinks. Folks said Bat Warren saw doughty deeds of old Barney who heard that laugh shivered.

"Thet's sure jest the way I want the Border-the death leap!' said unscrupulous,

his that the job was made for her. Oliver in the days of the Indian and it

Bat Warren's gun was free of words were frequently double- That was when Hank Challoner, scares, when raiding Comanches

had carried flame it, Marshal. I'm stayin' right on edged his guns spoke a language with his keen

war and iowas scent for

this cayuse. Yuh streets ain't clean its scabbard and blazing as the across the range. Both Oliver understood by all. Most men fear-smoke drew his deadline.

jenough' fer my likin".".

iron hooves reached him, smash- With the words he pushed his ed him down in a cloud of red ed Bat Warren. Most women The whole county waited to see boys had grown up dogged.

None had better reason to know horse forward.

dust. The horse gave a whinny what would happen.

Hank turned and called.

of pain, and crumpled, its rider Then one day Hank Challoner than Sally Oliver. looked up to see a stranger enter She heard the news with beat-

"Ef yuh climb outa thet saddle pitching headlong. Only the most try experienced of riders dare his office. His old eyes screwed ing heart, and she knew why Petelyuh a dead hombre!" There were folks that said Sally up.

had thrown out his challenge. It Pete Oliver turned in the saddle, that terrifying death leap. One on her account. Only she his face serious. He nodded. foot loose in the stirrup means a should have married Pete Oliver, "Yuh're a Bar O rannie, mis-was

knew why he had left and gone to| "Mebbe," he said. instead of his brother Steve. Pete ter," he accused.

broken neck, for the rider's whole The crowd followed the walk-body is pitched forward and down fair-haired, was

blue-eyed, That's like wearin' a medal in New Mexico. It was all a misun-

a

lovers' a couple of years

than this dod-blasted town," said the derstanding,

quarreling horse. They followed it until in a dizzy arc. younger

all!" outside the Oliver reined a paw into She had regretted it since. First, Pete Steve, and he could ride anything Bar O waddy, digging

"By heaven, this beats on four legs. Pete took after his a pocket and producing a note. her hasty marriage to Steve. She Longhorn Saloon, where Bat War-shouted Hank, charging forward. mother. Steve had inherited his But old Hank was taking no had not loved Steve. She had ren leaned against the porch-rail. Bat Warren was dead, his body married him to spite his brother, Some one had already carried broken by the flaying hooves. father's dark looks and heavy chances. He drew his hog-leg.

"Unbuckle yuh gun-belt, nis- after the hot words they manner. He was a good cowman,

had word that the Bar O boss was un-The horse was dead, a bullet in

armed.

its brain. Beyond, in the swirl- he understood cattle, and he made ter," he ordered, pushing his six-shared.

Oliver. A ing dust, lay Pete Bat's lips twisted into a sneer. And then she had fled, unable After the death of old gun across the old chipped desk,

him, yuh woman was bending over to face Pete again. But he knew

yuh forgot Barney Oliver the Bar O spread "an' I don't mean maybe." was run by the two brothers. The Bar O puncher's gun-belt how things stood with her, of Bat shootin'-irons, Oliver?" he asked. staunching the blood that flowed

Then Sally Kuhn came to teach slid to the floor, and Hank read Warren's eyes with their smiling "Is yuh yeller streak too wide?" from his head. school in Cheyenne Sinks. Every- the note. It was concise, and purpose. Pete had lived to know Men caught their breath. Pete: "Quick!" called the Marshal.

she would

to smile, that "Get him inside, and call the one thought

the mistake-they had both made. Oliver continued marry very explicit.

doc." Steve's

They younger brother.

Hank Challoner,

He could not live with her as his same fixed frozen smile.

had made a handsome pair when to-

Badly bruised, an ugly gash You made Cheyenne a Bar O brother's wife. But now he

"I didn't want to be stopped by

Warren, along his scalp, where a flying gether. But one day Pete forked deadline. This is to tell you I'm to avenge Steve and to save her.

no interferin' marshal, his brone and rode west. Sally crossing the deadline Thursday She cried in secret.

What I got to say is plenty, an' hoof had struck him, a bullet sear Feur for Pete was the married Steve.

midday. Till then

well- yuh gonna hear unless yuh' feel along his ribs, Pete Oliver was

tail. Pete Oliver. Ispring of her tears. She still loved like turnin' Yuh see, I'm patched up. As his eyes fluttered People talked, and the gossip died, as gossip will,

stay in this open they stared up at the re- Old Hank fumed, but fuming him, but she could not be sure of kinda agreed up to But Bat Warren longed for what did no good. He watched the his feeling now towards herself saddle. An' I'd hate tuh have tuh lieved face of the doctor, now

that Ferhaps He began messenger ride out of town.

one-time boyish bust in yuh nice swing-doors by rolling down his sleeves, and the making trouble-cleverly. The "Tell Pete Oliver I'll be waitin' love so gay, so care-free, had ridin' intuh yuh bar to find yuh." scowling face of the town mar- Bar O got the blame for the gun-for him with a shotgun," he call-turned to hate. Yes, perhaps it,

A flush deepened the swart tan shal.

thet was hate-only hate--that made of Bat Warren's face. The other's "Yuh said when I left Pete Oliver throw down his chal-drawled words bit like bullets. saddle it would be " lenge.

"What the heck yuh com' hyar] "An' you said mebbe, yuh dam- She knew Pete would keep his fer-without a gun" he demand- ned foot," growled the law officer. promise to the marshal.

cd hostilely.

"Let me tell yuh somethin'. Yuh There were others who doubt- "To kill you.”

durned lucky to have got out of ed it; and thère were some who

The quiet words, uttered with-this without a broken neck, but- just hoped things would turn out out bravado, made their hearers] Well, son, yuh sure saved me a differently. Hank Challoner was catch their breath

lot o' trouble by squarin'. 'counts "Fine words, Civer. Yuh sound with thet Warren hombre. Com Thursday came. A hot day, with as brave as yuh two-bit brother." on, doc."

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one.

"How come

Ja sun bright as molten brass flani- "Steve was brave enough," said They left the patient in the room. Pete ing in a hazy vault of blue. Men the mounted man thinly. "But shaded heat of the walked Cheyenne's streets with he was a fool to try to beat a Oliver was staring at the adobe expectation in their eyes, mouth gun-slick of yore stripe to the wall when a soft voice inquired, shut tightly. One question was in draw." every mind.

Would Pete. Oliver cross the deadline?

Hank had sworn to blast him! with a load of shot if he did, and Hank too was a man of his word. That was how he had kept the law so long.

"How are you feelin', Pete?"

His head turned, and he looked

A pause. Then "I said I'm gonna kill yuh, into the wide eyes of the girl who- Warren. Thet goes."

The deadly menace behind words demanded a silence was broken by a shrill cry.

"No-Pete! No!"

had married his brother, and then the suffered. Those eyes had been that with him wherever he had tried

to throw his life away, at other times, when he had got down to Sally thrust herself forward. thinking and trying to tote up the Half the town turned out to The fear in her eyes was a living ledger of his life. stand behind the marshal as the thing for all to sec.

"Purty good, Sally. You see, I sun reared to its zenith. Outside Pete Oliver gave her one look, bin a danged fool. Ef I hadn't the Longhorn Saloon lounged Bat and said, "Keep out of this, taken-the-bit-in-my teeth that Warren, a contemptuous smile on Sally"

day none of what's happened

his thin lips, a hard light in his "But, Fete," she cried, "I can't. would have-have-" inscrutable eyes.

I was wrong-a fool! I never "No, Pete, it was as much my Pete Oliver kept his word. A meant to hurt you. I-it was you fault. I was stubborn." half-stifled cry went up from the I-loved

"Listen, Sally, that's over and throng when he was seen loping Bat Warren's right hand trem-done with. Tell me, yuh meant along the trail into town.

bled. His teeth flashed.

it-what yuh said out there on "The durned fool!" spluttered "So. Hidin' now behind a wo- the broadwalk," Hank Challoner, wiping dry lips man." with his tongue. "He's com' askin'

as

drew opposite the law officer.

"Howdy, Hank."

keep the peace."

Pete Oliver smiled.

Another voice chipped

commanding.

"Yes, Pete, I love you," she said

in. simply. "I've always loved you,

fer trouble, an' by jeepers he's Hank's, charged with authority, I reckon, even when I didn't stop. gonna find it-now."

to ask my beart. But I've paid Pete Oliver, his fair hair bright "I'm cuttin' loose ef yuh leave for that mistake, Pete-a hundred : under the down-curled brim of his thet saddle, Pete Oliver. Durn times. You'll never know--"

The bandaged head on the pil- Stetson, reined his bronc heit, I've let yuh go too far now."

But the mounted man took no low moved. notice. He was staring into the "I've always known, Sally. It's The customary salutation was pin-pointed eyes of the man he bin the same fer me, I guess. I casual.

hated.

reckon both of us had to cross "I've crossed the deadline, our own deadline, an' it wasn't "Howdy." muttered old Hank, stepping forward with his shot-Warren," he said. "I'm counting easy once we'd lost each other."

"But now, Pete" gun prominent. "I aim tuh keep three, an then yuh start high- the law in this town Pete Oliver," tailin' outa town pronto, or I'm There was hope in her voice; in

[her eyes. he said firmly. ""They're a dead-comin' for yuh." line no Bar O man can cross an' Men's eyes bulged. He couldn't "Now, Sally, we c'n build up mean it. It was suicide. Bat our life afresh, Mebbe we've lost Warren, fastest man on the draw somethin' but we got somethin' "Look, Marshal," he grinned-it in Cheyenne Sinks, would be else. We got the knowledge it's was a tight, humourless grin-Justifled in shooting-an unarm-a one-way trait fer both of us. learn, "can a man without a gun upset ed man!, It was crazy, unbellev- That's what we had to

able.

Sally. That's what we had to the peace of Cheyenne Sinks?"

He held up his arms, and the "Yuh've got a nerve, Oliver-"cross the deadline to find.”.

"One!"

She took his hand and held ių group behind the marshal saw for the first time that the newcomer The word rang clear.

to her check.

carried no gun.

Bat Warren pushed himself "I was prayin' all the time, "What's the idee?" demanded away from the hitch-rail, stood Pete," she confesed, "that you'd

with feet straddled, knees crook- come for me." The other's glance was steely. ed, in the fighting attitude of a "Ef you shoot me, Hank Chal-man used to relying upon his gun happy.

And there"An' I was prayin' I'd be in loner, yuh shootin' an unarmed to end an argument.

from stop yuh was a faint glow of triumph in time to man. That's fnurder."

his eyes. This was his lucky day other"

Her hand on his mouth stayed "They ain't no 'buts,' Marshal. The fool was playing right into I'm tellin' yub. Ef you cut loose his hands-if only Hank Chal-the words. with that cannon yuh gonna pile loner kept out of the shindig.

Hank.

"But

up a heap o' woe on yuh old grey head. An' I'd be powerful sorry to know yuh'd be sech an all-fired fool'

"I'm waitin', 'Oliver!? "Twol"

Even the marshal stood though petrified, caught by There was an uncertain laugh drama of the fleeting moments. from several of the spectators. >-w""Three!"

"Sure, thet's right," said one.. The word rang like a knell,

He smiled, a new smile, free,

nny

"We've also to learn to forget, |Pete," "šho said softly.

Through tho' Inttice of her

as fingers he said, "I could learn awful quick ef yuh klased me, Sally."

the

| Smiling, she lowered her faco Ito his.