To the Last Man

l did not ride far aw

arpet of pine needles which showed no trace of footprints. The supposition was that this cowardly attempt had been perpetrated, or certainly instigated, by the Jorths. But there was no proof. And Gaston Isbel had other enemies in the Tonto Basin besides the sheep clan. The old man raged like a lion about this sneaking attack on him

shore," was the stubborn cattlema

black hoss up at Jorth's ranch?" dema

swear Jorth s

growled Blaisdell. "An' we're losin' c

ttle ever since we st

nt Jorth to start th

enough," was Isb

The range was large and cattle were everywhere. Sometimes a loss was not discovered for weeks. Gaston Isbel's sons were now the only men left to ride the range. Two of his riders had quit because of the threatened war, and Isbel had let another go. So that Jean did not often learn that ca

cing into a black thundercloud, Jean welcomed them. He liked to see the gray streamers of rain hanging down from a canopy of black, and the roar of rain on the trees as it approached like a trampling army was always welcome. The grassy flats, the red ridges, the rocky slopes, the thickets of manzanita and

had happened to Shepp. The old rancher thought he had been poisoned or shot; Bill and Guy Isbel believed he had been stolen by sheep herders, who were always

ut it was a new one for Jean. The wolf was a big gray and black fellow, rangy and powerful, and until he got the steers all behind him he was rather hard put to it to keep out of their way. Probably he had dogged the herd, trying to sneak in an

m, where all the sheep in the country were run during the hot, dry summer down on the Tonto. Young Evarts and a Mexican boy named Bernardino had charge of this flock

dino had rifles, but, to his knowledge, no small arms. Jean rode up on one of the black-brushed conical hills that rose on the south side of Grass Valley, and from there he took a sharp survey of the country. At first he made out only cattle, and bare meadowland, and the low encircling ridges and hills. But pres

experienced a little shock of uneasy dread that was a new sensation for him. Brooding over this he proceeded on his way, at length to turn into the draw where the camp of the sheep-herders was located. Upon coming i

ismounted, rifle in hand, peering quickly from

!" gasped the boy, wringi

ned-out fire, a half-finished meal-and then the Mexican lad lying prone on the gro

?" demanded Jean,

Evarts, huskily. "He-he j

t himself ac

He didn't

did,

up-a gang-they did

know who

ndly-like. Thet made me raise up, to look. An' I couldn't see good. I heerd one of them ask Bernardino to let him see his gun. An' Bernardino handed it over. He looked at the gun an' haw-hawed, an' flipped it up in the air, an' wh

horse?" querie

ide one of Berna

nd word to Blue and Gordon and Fredericks to ride

exclaimed, grimly "the Jorth-Isbel war is on! ... Deliberate, cold-blooded murder! I'll gamble Daggs did this job. He's been g

lad with it and then ran for, his horse. Mounting, he galloped down the draw,

the dead body of the last man of the other. Would it be a Jorth or an Isbel? "My instinct was right," he muttered, aloud. "That bunch of horses gave me a queer feelin'." Jean gazed all around the grassy, cattle-dotted valley he was crossing so swiftly, and toward the village, but he did not see any si

haystack half eaten away, the cows in the fenced pasture, the column of blue smoke lazily ascending, the cackle of hens, the solid, well-built cabins

ved the womenfolk back, and then strode out into the lane. Bill and Guy reached his side as Jean pulled his heaving horse to a halt. They all looked at Jean

as in a hurry," r

's up?" querie

it was he who turned slightly

been killed-murdere

that let his chest sag. A terrible deadly glint, pale and col

ulated Bill I

ilent a moment, motionless, locked in the secret seclusion of their

on I'd done better to listen to you boys an' have my men close at hand.

kon they'll round us up

e nerve. Shore I ought to have figgered Daggs better. This heah secret bizness an' shootin' at us fr

ll get here in time. But if they don't it needn't worry us much. We can hold out here longer

ther. "Jean, you go out close by, where

tell the women?"

he inevitableness of it in no wise detracted from its sheer uselessness. Men from time immemorial had hated, and killed one a

he said. "Shore you needn't worry

surprise. The moments dragged by, and at the end of an hour Jean was in hopes that Blaisdell would soon come. These hopes were well founded. Presently he heard a clatter of hoofs on hard ground to the south, and upon wheeling to look he saw the friendly neighbor coming fast along the road, riding a big white ho

orses! Jean's body gave a slight start-the shock of sudden propulsion of blood through all his veins. Those horses bore riders. They were coming st

a Texan's inherited instincts left no doubts, no hopes, no illusions-only a grim certainty that this was not conjecture nor probability, but fact. For a moment longer

ow he hated to be forced to tell his father

ld man, his eagle gaze

Grass Valley. You

in an' let'

and protection. This room had two windows and a door facing the lane, and a door at each end, one of which opened into the kitchen and the other into an adjoining and lat

ted to him. His sister Ann, his two sisters-in-law, the chil

his precious gang of rustlers are on

bad day fer Lee Jorth

red Isbel, "an' fetch out al

d brought with him from the coast; the enormous buffalo, or so-called "needle" gun, that Gaston Isbel had used for years; a

," said Isbel. "Everybody w

jawed Texans. He carried a .44 rifle of an old pattern. "Wal, boys, if I'd knowed we was in fer som

ht in quantity fitted Jacob's rifle, a fact which af

e lucky," declar

or them in the talk and action of the men. The wife of Jacobs was a little woman, with homely face an

ied upon him, for no one else looked out. Now that the suspense of days and weeks was over, these

gether, walking their mounts, and evidently in earnest conversation. After several ineff

k out!" c

the door and stood lo

said: "By Golly! Come to pay us a call!" The women sat motionless, with dark, st

ircle, all facing the ranch. They were close enough for Jean to see their gestures, but he cou

ow any of them?"

t. They're

pe," said Guy Isbel, and he ran

t of his bull-like neck, "Wal, now you're heah, yo

k it with shaking hands and leveled it. Suddenly it was as if he had been transfixed; then he

he swore,

at recognition had been like a mortal shock. I

An' Tad Jorth, with the same old red nose! ... An', say, damn if one of that gang isn't Queen, as bad a gun fighter as Texas ever bred. Shore I thought he'd been k

t group of horsemen. "Simm Bruce," he said, instantly. "I see Colter. And

Craig," interru

s. He asked his father to describe Daggs and then Queen. It was not likely that Jean would fail to know these several men in the future. Then Blaisdell asked for the

aw! ... An' 'pears to me he's not overlookin' our hosses. Wal, that's natural for a rustler.

lin' 'round them hosses," declared Guy I

l be somebody's funera

ion. Daggs pointed to the horses in the pasture lot that lay between him and the house. These animals were the best on th

do some horse ste

ly. He surveyed the band of men for a long m

ere after my hoss

laimed hi

t you see that? If they meant to fight they'd d

sullenly determined and the gleam

I know Jorth. They've come to kill us. It '

teal my hosses out from under my

alone," spoke up Jacobs, ch

e had been reared in a stern school. She knew men in times like these. But Ja

stantly when the band became aware of Guy's and Jacobs's entrance into the pasture. It took only another second then to realize that Daggs and Jo

led out Jean, sharply. "Yell for G

Isbel yelled; Blaisdell li

piercingly: "G

miles. They had covered about a quarter of the distance across the pasture, and were nearing the horses, when Jean saw red flashes

n hit. Turning, he began to run and ran fast for a few paces. There were more quick, sharp shots. He let go of his rifle. His running broke. Walking, reeling, stagg

suddenness of this tragedy paralyzed him. His

a shaking woman's hand,

a broken voice. "I was watc

ad slipped up behind Jean and from

e corner of the cabin, where the other women, shaking and white, received her in their arms. Guy Isbel's wife sto

d, bitterly. "An' how are we

to rouse from the cold spe

out, hoarsely. "My son-my son! ... Murdered

get off, and then, all of them leading their

movin' round

rick," declar

all, say aboot the fifth log up," ordered

rner, he began to work at the point designated. The little children backed away with fixed, wond

f his sight. They had moved toward the sloping, b

rustlers were going into the juniper brush. They moved out of sight, and presently reappeared without their horses. It looked to Jean as if they intended to attack the cabins. Then they halted at the edge of the brush and held a long consultation. Jean could see them distinctly, though they were too far distant for him to recognize any particular

n a low voice. "Jean, I got the ho

r Daggs is drunk. He's arguin' to charge us, an' the rest of the gang are holdin' bac

rying a pack. And when this was deposited on the ground all the rustlers sat down around it. They had brought food and drink. Jean had to utter a grim laugh at their coolness; and he was reminded of many dare-devil deeds known to have been perpetrated by the Hash Knife Gang

tlers could not be seen, must have been great. Jean told him all he had seen and what he thought about it. "Ea

oo quick-for us-unless are might

he unnatural silence of the cabin was broken now and then by the gay laughter of the children. The sound shocked and haunted Jean. Playing children! Then another sound, so faint

hey stooped down and were lost to Jean's sight. This fact caused him alarm. They were, of course, crawling up on the cabins. At the end of that line of corrals ran a ditch, the bank of which was high enough to afford cover. Moreover, it ran along in front of the cabins, scarcely a hundred yards, and it was covered with grass and little clumps of brush, from behind which the rustlers could fire into the win

y're behind the bank out there by the corrals. An' they're goin' to crawl down the ditch closer to us....

ou women keep the kids with you in that c

edges of the logs. Jean took his post beside the small window, with his keen eyes vibrating like a compas

in' along almost to that bare spot on the bank.... I saw the tip of a rifl

the highest and brushiest line of the embankment, attested to the tr

color through the fringe of brush. In

stepped up in plain sight. The sun s

led, in magnificent derisive

out. They all hit the swaying body of the rustler. But Jean knew with a terrible thrill that his bullet had killed Daggs before the other three struck. Daggs fell forward, h

off the top of his haid. I seen that when I was pu

nk-to pop up there-an' brace us that

lly. "Shore it's been too peaceful heah. Rustlers hav

Jacobs," spoke up Jean. "They were overbold,

nd his father was not immune. Blaisdell, too, drank heavily upon occasions. Jean ma

olley followed, then another. The rustlers had repeating rifles and they were emptying their magazines. Jean changed his position. The other men profited by his wise move. The volleys had merged into one continuous rattling roar of rifle shots. Then came a sudden cessat

aled from behin

Do you Isbels want to

by the window and his comrades followed his example. A

ston Isbel. "Maybe after a while they'll get

oke through the clay chinks between the logs. It dawned upon Jean that these dangerous shots were not accident. They were well aimed, and most of them hit low down. The cunning rustlers had some unerring riflemen and they were picking out the vulnerable places all along the front of the

, where red splotches appeared on his shirt. He shook his head at Jean, evidently to make light of the wound. The women and children were lying fa

these. Jean did not fire again that afternoon. Toward sunset, when the besiegers appeared to grow restless or

after dark, an' what 're WE go

never charge u

Isbel. He appeared to be the gloomiest of the

t I reckon they'd not burn u

know aboot Lee Jorth. He would skin me ali

Darkness brought a change in the attack of the rustlers. They stationed men at four points around the cabins; and every few mi

ake of it?" asked

y're set for a long fight. They're shootin

t 're you goin'

out there

is satisfaction at thi

p lookout from his window while he ate his supper of meat, bread, and milk. At last the chi

ignified his intention of

of us in the daytime," he

ned against the log cabin, waiting for his eyes to become perfectly adjusted to the darkness. Like an Indian, Jean could see well at night. He knew every point around cabins and sheds and corrals, every post, log, tree, rock

of cedar and juniper trees. On the north side of the cabin a streak of fire flashed in the blackness, and a shot rang out. Jean heard the bullet bit the cabin. Then silence enfolded the lonely ranch and the darkness lay like a black blanket. A low hum of insects perv

me up behind the rustler who was firing from that side. Jean climbed to the top of the ridge, descended the opposite slope, made his turn to the left, and slowly worked up behind the point near where he expected to locate the rustler. Long habit in the open, by day and night, rendered his sense of direction almost as perfect as sight itself. The first flash of fire he saw from this side proved that he had come straight up toward his man. Jean's intention was to crawl up on this one of the Jorth gang and silently kill him with a knife. If the plan worked successfully, Jean meant to work round to the next rustle

ifle. But he did not make the slightest sound, and at length he reached the edge of the open ridge top, once mo

e fully realized his strange, hopeless, and irresistible love for the girl. He made no attempt to deny it any longer. Like the night and the lonely wilderness around him, like the inevitableness of this Jorth-Isbel feud, this love of his was a thing, a fact, a reality. He breathed to his own inward ear, to his soul-he could not kill Ellen Jorth's father. Feud or no feud, Isbel or not, he could not deliberately do it. And why not? There was no answer. Was he not faithless to his father? He had no hope of ever winning Ellen Jorth. He did not want the love of a girl of her character. But he loved her. And his struggle must be against the insidious and mysterious growth of that passion. I

asterful tide of revenge waved over him. The keen edge of his mind then cut out sharp and trenchant thoughts. He must kill when and where he could. This man could hardly be Ellen Jorth's father. Jorth would be with the main crowd, directing hostilities. Jean could shoot this rustler guard and his shot would be taken by the gang as the regular one from their comrade. Then swiftly Jean leveled his r

to lift. The clamoring whispers grew fainter in his ears. And by the time he had retraced his cautious steps back to the orcha

t had actuated him on the slope, only here he did not pause so often, nor move so slowly. Jean aimed to go far enough to the right to pass the end of the embankment behind whi

owever, caused him no uneasiness. He lay there awhile to listen. Again he heard voices. After a time a shot

econd one was performing the same office from a point apparently only a few yards farther on. Two rustlers close together! Jean had not calculated upon t

brushing against the dry, invisible branches of the weeds. To offset this he wormed his way like a snail, inch by inch, taking a long time before he caught sight of the sitting figure of a man, black against the

d see no light of pipe or cigarette,

hunched up a few yards distant, "shore it strikes

he shock of it seemed to contract the muscles of his whol