THE SHERIFF RIDES TO WAR
MANY men that The Orphan was bad, and many and with of he was bad, but for that was as as the majority to their displeasure. Those of the who had gone and who had their by only proved their foolishness; for they had gone and would return no more.
Tradition had it that The Orphan was a mongrel, a half-breed, that his mother had been a Sioux with blood in her veins. It also that his father had been and elected, by a posse, to an position under a tree; and further, that The Orphan himself had been a 4at midnight on the thirteenth of the month. The was from the Mexicans, who great in making such of luck.
But was questioned as to his mother, for how the son of such a mother be of the dare-devil and which had his name a of terror? This was well and is out, for it can be said that the mother of The Orphan was white, and had neither Indian blood in her veins, but on the came from a family of gentlefolk. Thus I start by slander. The Orphan was white, his blue, and his anger red, and having started aright, I will continue with the events which to the of his and their final over the hard nature which had in him. These events on the day when James Shields, for set forth, in his career.
Shields, by common Keeper of the Law over a as large as the State of New Jersey and out of I will call sheriff, was 5no coward, and neither was he a fool; and when word came to him that The Orphan had a of two sheep near the U Bend of the Limping Water Creek, he did not the and the citizens of Ford’s Station that he was about to start on a which had for its object the of The Orphan at long range. Upon occasions his oppressive, when or of thought. The more he the less he talked, the one being when to anger by personal insults, in which case his along one while his a single idea. To his he as the mood directed, often saying nothing for hours, and at other times volubly. One thing, a word of his, had proverbial–when Shields said “Hell!” he was in no mood for pleasantries, and the third of the word meant red, red anger. He was a man of personality, who loved his friends in staunch, loyalty; and he his until the last had been reached.
6He, like The Orphan, was a in the of the term, as he in the possible situations. He was now with the of his ride, for The Orphan would be so very much to see him. He picture the of which would the outlaw’s over the sights, and he as he of how The Orphan would swear. He did his as an duty, a business, a necessity; and he took great in its accuracy. When he at a man he did it with gravity, but he and when he the man’s nose or or Adam’s apple at a hundred yards. All the time he that the man ought to die, that it was a case of necessity, and this why he was so pleased about the or nose or Adam’s apple.
With The Orphan popular opinion said it was different; that his was ghastly, malevolent, murderous; that he to kill with the same gravity, but that it was that of determination, ferocity. He was said to be in the taking of life, more 7than the sheriff, and as the leader of a wolf-pack, and relentless. The Orphan was looked upon as an of the idea of destruction; the sheriff, a force, and almost as as the he would to overcome. The two came as near to the scientists’ little joke of the meeting the as can be in agents.
So Shields, upon of The Orphan’s latest of humor, the joke to the and up his mind to play a one on the outlaw. He not help but with The Orphan, every man what the were, and Shields, at one time a cowman, was naturally against sheep. He was of having to of grass-shavers which so often passed across his domain, and he the sheep-raising as an which should by all be deported. But he not The Orphan’s and idea of deportation. The was kind-hearted, and he angry when he of the two thousand 8sheep over the bank of the Limping Water to a death by drowning; The Orphan should have been satisfied in up the of the herders. He did not like a glutton, and he would tell the so in his own way.
He walked through his and called to his wife as he passed the house, telling her that he was going to be gone for an period, not the object of his journey, as he did not wish to worry her. Accustomed as she was to have him danger, she had a wife’s for his safety, and many hours’ sleep while he was away. He took his from where it against the and on his way to the small in the of the yard, where two and the shade. Leading one of them outside, he a to its back, the and put on a light bridle. Dropping the Winchester into its holster, he and the animal for a minutes just as he always had to it. He the of his .45 Colts and ran his along the under of his for as to ammunition. Seeing that the black leather case which was from the of 9the his and that his was full of water, he to the door of his house, where his wife gave him a of food. Promising her that he would take good of himself and to return as as possible, he through the gate and the toward the “Oasis,” the door of which was always open. Two dogs were out in the doorway, at flies. As the he which from the barroom.
“Say, Dan!” he loudly. “Dan!”
“Shout it out, Sheriff,” came the response from the room, and the appeared at the door.
“If wants me, they may me at Brent’s; I’m going out that way,” the said, as he the reins. “Bite, d––––n you,” he at his horse.
“All right, Jim,” the bartender, the peace officer as he the street. He yawned, and returned to his chair, there to as long as he might.
Shields left word at the Oasis as to where 10he might be in case he should be needed, but in this he had left word where he not be if needed. He out of the town over the which to Brent’s and to it until he had put great to him that he was out of of any citizen of Ford’s Station. Then he as he the of an and to the at a right to his and pushed his at a around the and cacti, all the time more to the east and in the direction of the U Bend of the Limping Water. He and as he that The Orphan would have nearly three hours’ start of him by the time he his objective, which meant a long in the of such a man.
To a the would have been very oppressive, dangerous, but the it an temperature for hunting. He at his and was pleased by the of his pinto, were not in the least to be playful. When the animal its and 11nipped hard and quick at the sheriff’s legs, a of leather and for its reward, he the in the when it let go, and then a of in its with his as an encouragement. The was to his heart, and he that he might to like the animal.
When he at the U Bend he put in an hour the of The Orphan’s joke, for the liked to his where they be and appreciated. Shields looked sadly at the sheep, said “Hell” twice and the stream, up the outlaw’s on the and along it. The was very plain to him, as a line, and it toward the northeast, which the sheriff, there was a sized water twenty miles on in that direction. Perhaps he would The Orphan there, for it would be just like that person to the only water twenty miles and his to either take the or go to the Limping Water for a drink. Anyway, The Orphan would 12wallowing about in the and water, and he would not the water much unless he the to on the bank. Having to take the in to to the creek, the that phase of the game from his mind and to about the which had that the Apaches were out.
Practical joking with The Orphan and with the traveling of Apache parties were much the same in results, so the up his mind to to the matter, if need be, after he had the man he was following. Everybody that Apaches were very bad, but that The Orphan was worse; and, besides, the would be laughing about that a drink. The and forward, taking pains, however, to circle around all and of every nature, for he did not know but that his enemy might have of the water had been and to out under cover. While the was unafraid, he had respect for the quality of The Orphan’s marksmanship, which was as being above 13reproach; and he was not to the was above in ambush. So he used his in and toward the water hole.