The Searchlight (Cushing, Okla.), Vol. 2, No. 42, Ed. 1 Wednesday, September 6, 1911 Page: 2 of 8
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njJLOHLIGIT, CV6HDTQ, OKLA.
i -Tmi
Lror the plains
Pahdail Padpi^h
UTHOROr'Mv Lady Or THc South'
When Wilderness Wa6 King* Etc.Ctc
IllUSTRATIOMA &V DeARBMM Htmu.
rCoorrlrb]
SYNOPSIS*
CHAPTBR I—Jack Keith, * tnMJMf-
der plainsman, la riding alone "»• Santa
Fa trail on the lookout for roaming wa*
partlee of savagee. Keith had won his
nun aa captain la a Virginia regiment
Curing the civil war. He had left the
service to And hla old aouthern home la
ashes. hla friends scattered. and the fas-
olnatlon of wild weatern life had allure*
him. He notlcea a camp fire at a dla-
tance and then aeea a team attached to
a wagon and at full gallop puraued fcf
•en on ponlea
CHAPTER II—When Keith reaches
the wagon the raldera have massrured
two men, ahot the horaea and departed.
Hp searches the victims finding papers
and a locket with a woman'a portrait. He
resolves to hunt down the murderer*.
CHAPTER XII—Keith reachea Caraon
City and la urrested there charged with
murdering and robbing the ovo travelers.
His accuser Is given as Black Bart, a
aotorioua ruffian.
CHAPTER IV.—They can readily swear
the crime on Keith. The latter goes to
Jail fully realizing the peril of swift bor-
der Justice. A companion in hla cell la a
Segro, who tells liim he la Neb and that
e knew the Keith family back In Vir-
ginia. |
CHAPTER V-tfJeb know* about the
two murdered men from the .leacrlptlon
by Keith. He says one was John Sibley, ;
the other Oen. Willis Walte, formerly an4
officer In the Confederate army.
CHAPTER VI—The plainsman and bis
humble friend escape from the colL
CHAPTER VII—The two fugitives be-
come lost in the sand desert.
CHAPTER VIII—Thsy come upon a
sabln and And Its lono occupant to be a
beautiful young girl. Keith recognlaea
her as a alnger he aaw at Carson City.
CHAPTER IX—The girl explalna that
she came there in search of a brother
who had deaerted from the army. 8ha
had met a Mr. Hawley, who had Induced
her to come to the cabin while ho sought
to locate hor brother.
CHAPTER X—Hawley appears, and
Keith In hiding recognises him as the
notorious Black Bart. Hawley tries to
■take love to the glrL
CHAPTER XI—There la a terrific bat-
tle In the darkened room In which Keith
overcomes Black Bart. Horses are ap-
propriated, and the girl who says that
ner name la Hope. Joina In the eacaoe.
CHAPTER XII—KU!S Mplalna his ait-
uation as a fuyHtv® '-ore tvstica
CHAPTER XIII—The fugltlvee make
for the ford of the Arkanaas aiming to
reach Kort learned.
CHAPTER XIV—Here the girl Is left
la charge of the hotel landlady.
CHAPTER XV—Keith Is riding Black
Bart's horse, and In the saddle-bags dis-
covers a letter bearing the name of Chris.
acociurg * Co.. ma.)
r*aTnsman 1e3 on unhelTtallngly, "until
they began to climb the rather sharp
uplift of the north bank. Here there
was a plain trail, pounded into smooth-
ness by the hoofs of cavalry horses
ridden down to water, and at the sum-
mit thay emerged within fifty yards of
the stables.
The few lights risible, some station-
arv, with others dancing about like
will-o'-the-wisps, revealed imperfectly
*>io contour of various buildings, but
K 'ith turned sharply to the right, anx-
ious to slip past without being chal-
!< n«red by a sentry. Beyond the brow
of the bluff other lights now became
visible, flickering here and there,
marking where a straggling town had
sprung up under the protection of the
i;oat—a town garish enough In the
daylight, composed mostly of shacks
and tents, but now with Its deficien-
cies mercifully concealed by the en-
veloping darkness. The trail, easily
ft'sjwed, led directly along its single
street, but Keith circled the outskirts
through a wi'derness of tin-cans and
^eiips of other debris, until he halted
Ms charges beside the black shadow
of the only two-story edifice in the
place. This was the Occidental, the
hospitality of which he had frequently
tested.
A light streamed from out the front
windows, but, uncertain who might
be harbored within. Keith tapped
gently at the back door. It was not
opened Immediately, and w"hen It wag
finally shoved aside the merest crack,
no glow of light revealed the darkened
Interior. The voice which spoke, how-
ever, was amply sufficient to Identify
Its owner.
"Is that ye agin, Murphy, a playin'
av yer dirthy thricks?"
"No, Mrs. Murphy," he hastened to
explain, "this Is Keith—Jack Keith,
of the Bar X."*
The T>ord deliver us!" was the In
Btant exclamation, the door opening
wide. "They do be afther tellln' me
to-night av the throuble ye was in
over at Carson, an' 01 t'ought mayb^
ye moight turn up this way. It was
a nate trick ye played on the loikes
av 'em, Jack, but this is a dom poor
place fer ye ter hide in. Bedad, there's
a half-dozen in the parly now talkin'
tie Maclalre and he believes Mlsa Hope a5out lt wid a COuple av officers from
deceived him In disclaiming that name. , „„
Miss Hope tells the landlady that aha la
the daughter of Oeneral Walte.
CHAPTER XIV.
The Landlady of th« Occidental.
Keith had crossed at this point ao
1 frequently with cattle that, once har-
! lng hi. bearings, the blackness of the RC™8 a *lrl Black B^Ft
m Un J lniTA<»l/>J nrau nn o llo
1 night made very little difference.
the fort. Is the nager wld ye?"
"Yes, but we have no Intention of
hiding here. I'd rather take my
chance in the open. The fact is, Kate,
we started off for the 'Bar X.' "
"At course, ye did; Ol was shure av
lt,"
"But down on the Salt Fork we rail
[Nevertheless, In fear lest her pony
'might stumble over some irregularity,
jhe gave his own rein to Neb, and went
{forward on foot, grasping firmly the
tired animal's bit. It was a long
stretch of sand and water extending
jfrom bank to bank, but the water was
ahallow, the \ only danger being that
of straying off from the more solid
bottom into quicksand. With a tower-
ing cottonwood as guide, oddly mis-
shapen and standing out gauntly
, apainst the slightly lighter sky, the
hod Inveigled down that way on a lie.
We had a bit of a fight, and got her
away from him. This is what brought
us back here—to put the girl where
she will be safe out of his clutches."
The door was wide open now, and
Mrs. Murphy outside, her interest at
fever heat
"Ye had a folght wld Black BftrtI
Oh, ye dlvllt An' ye licked the dirthy
apalpane, aa' got away wid his gyurl!
Glory bet And would Ot take her?
Well, Ot would. Niver doubt that, me
bye. She may be the ju%ne av Shaba,
an* she may be "a Tflgger Tnjun "Squaw,
but the loikes av him had better kape
away from Kate Murphy. It'g glad
Oi am ter do it! Bring her la. Oi
don't want ter hear no more."
"Just a word, Kate; I don't know
whether she has any money or not,
but I'll pay her bill, as soon as it is
safe for me to come back."
"Oh, the divil take her bill. She'll
have the best in the house, annyhow,
an' Oi'm only bopin' that fellow will
turn up huntin' her. Ol'd loike ter
take one slap at the Bpalpane."
Fully convinced as to Mrs. Murphy's
good-will, Keith slipped back into the
darkness, and returned with the girl.
Introductions were superfluous, as the
mistress of the Occidental cared little
regarding ceremony.
1
"Shure It'g 8?fe It Is Yer Goin' Ter
Be Here."
"An' is this you, my dear?" she
burst out, endeavoring to curb her
voice to secretive softness. "Shure,
Jack Keith has told me all about it
an' It's safe it is yer gcln' ter be here.
Come on in; Oi'll give ye number
forty-two, thet's next behlnt me own
room, an' we'll go up the back sthairs.
Hilp the young loldy, Jack, fer shure
ye know the way."
She disappeared, evidently with
some hospitable purpose in view, and
Keith, clasping the girl'B hand, under-
took the delicate task of safely es cort-
ing her through the dark kitchen, and
up the dimly remembered stairs. Only
a word or two passed between them, ]
but as they neared the second story a
light suddenly streamed out through
the opened door of a room at their
left Mrs. Murphy greeted them at
the landing, and for the first time saw
the girl's weary white face, her eyes
filled with appeal, and the warm Irish
heart responded instantly.
"Ye poor little lamb; It's the bid
ye want, an' a dhrap o' whiskey. Jack
Keith, why didn't ye till me she was
done up wid the hard ride? Here,
honey, sit down in the rocker till Ol
get ye a wee dhrink. It'll bring the
roses back to the cheeks av ye." She
was gone, bustling down the dark
stairs, and the two were alone in the
room, the girl looking up into his face,
her head resting against the cushion-
ed back of the chair. He thought he
aaw a glimmer of tears in the depths
of her lash-shaded eyes, and her
round white throat seemed to choke.
"You will be perfectly secure here,"
he said, soothingly, "and can remain
aa long aa yea please. Mrs. Murphy
will guard you aa though you were her
own daughter. She is a bit rough,
maybe, but a big-hearted wemaa, and
despises Hawley. She nureed me
once through a toueh of typhoid—yea,
by Jove," glancing about la sodden
recognition, "and in this Tory
too."
T"he girl's glance wandered over the
plain, neat furnishings, and the rather
pathetic attempts at decoration, yet
with apparently no thought for them.
••You—you have not told me where
you were going."
He laughed, - a little uneasily, aa
though he preferred to make.light of
the whole matter.
"Really, I have hardly decided, tho
world is so wide, and I had no reason
to suppose you interested."
"But I am interested," resenting hla
tone of assumed indifference. "I
would not want to feel that our tuy
qualntance was to wholly end now.
"Do you really mean that?"
"Why should I not? You have been
a real friend to me; I shall remember
you always with a gratitude beyond
T-rrds. I want you to know this, and
" at—that I stall ever wish to retain
.hat friendship."
Keith struggled with himself, doubt-
:"ul of what he had best say, swayed
uy unfamiliar emotions.
"You may be sure I shall never for-
'ft," he blurted forth, desperately,
'and, if you really wish it, I'll certain-
ly see you again."
"I do," earnestly.
"Then, I'll surely find a way. I d^n"t
Itow now which direction we will
ride, but I'm not going very far until
i clear up that murder out yonder on
the trail; that is my particular job
just now."
Before she could answer, Mrs. Mur-
phy re-entered and forced her to drink
the concoction prepared, the girl ao
cepting with smiling protest. Th> land-
lady, empty glass in hand, swept her
eyes about the room.
"Bedad, but the place looks betther
than lver Ol'd belaved, wld the gj url
Ol've got tindiiV to It. She's that
lagy she goes ter slape swapin' the
flure. Jack, would ye molnd hilpin*
me move the bid; shure, it's rale mge
hegany, an' so heavy It breaks mo
back intpirtily to push it 'round."
He took bold willingly enough, and
the two together ran the heavy con-
trivance across the roem to the posi-
tion selected. Once a leg caught in
the rag carpet, and Keith lifted it ou^
bending low to get a firmer grip. Thea
he held out his hand to the girl.
"It is not gring to be good-bye thei^
Miss Hope; I'll find you."
St e smi'ed up Into his eyes, much
of the weariness, gone from her fac^
"I am going to bo'ieve that," she ai>
swered, gladly, "btcause I want to."
Mr". Murphy lingered until his st<pg
sounded on tre stairs, as he slowly
felt his way down through the dark-
ness.
"He do be a moighty foine bye, .lark
Keith," she said, apparently address-
ing the side wall. "Oi wish Oid a
knowed him whin Ol was a gyurl;
shure, it's not Murphy me noime'd bo
now, Oi'm t'inkin'."
Left alone, the girl bo've.,1 her 1 ead
on her hands, a hoi tear stealing down
through her fingers. As she gianced
up again, something that glitter* <i on
the floor beside the bed caught iier
eyes. She stopped and picked it up,
holding the trinket to the light, star-
ing at lt as though fascinated. It wag
the locket Keith had taken from tho
neck of the dead man at Cimmaron
Crossing. Her nerveless fingers press-
ed the spring, and the painted fa.ee
within looked up into her own, and
still clasping It within her band, sha
sank upon her knees, burying htr face
on the bed.
"Where did he get that?" her Upe
kept repeating. "Where did he ev«*
get that?"
> i ^
CHAPTER XV.
Again Christie Maclalre.
Keith possessed sufficient means for
several months of idleness, and even
if he had not his reputation as a
plains scout would insure hmi e-: ; oy-
(Continued on next page.)
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Green, E. M. The Searchlight (Cushing, Okla.), Vol. 2, No. 42, Ed. 1 Wednesday, September 6, 1911, newspaper, September 6, 1911; Cushing, Oklahoma. (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc285892/m1/2/: accessed April 18, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.