Page 149 (1/1)

"My God!" burst out Ellen "Uncle John, y'u shore cain't h to drive the hogs off an' bury those daid ht, but it was to watch the hogs," declared Sprague "An' then, what d' ye think? The wimminfolks come out--the red-headed one, Guy's wife, an' Jacobs's wife--they drove the hogs away an' buried their husbands right there in the pasture Evarts says he seen the graves"

"It is the women who can teach these bloody Texans a lesson," declared Ellen, forcibly

"Wal, Daggs was drunk, an' he got up fro was hidin', an' dared the Isbels to coht souard An' last--this here's what I come to tell you--Jean Isbel slipped up in the dark on Greaves an' knifed him"

"Why did y'u want to tell me that particularly?" asked Ellen, slowly

"Because I reckon the facts in the case are queer--an' because, Ellen, your naue, positively

"My naave way to a quickening process of thought, aastonishue, as if the name and the fact were momentous

Ellen sat still as a stone, her hands between her knees Slowly she felt the blood recede fro her kin down below her neck That nahty queer story--too queer to be a lie," went on Sprague "Now you listen! Evarts got this from Ted Meeker An' Ted Meeker heerd it from Greaves, who didn't die till the next day after Jean Isbel knifed him An' your dad shot Ted fer tellin' what he heerd No, Greaves wasn't killed outright He was cut somethin' turrible--in two places They wrapped hion back to Grass Valley Evarts says Ted Meeker was friendly with Greaves an' went to see him as he was layin' in his room next to the store Wal, accordin' to Meeker's story, Greaves came to an' talked He said he was sittin' there in the dark, shootin' occasionally at Isbel's cabin, when he heerd a rustle behind hirass He knowed soun around he was jurizzly bear But it was a ed him back in the ditch An' he said: 'Greaves, it's the half-breed An' he's goin' to cut you--FIRST FOR ELLEN JORTH! an' then for Gaston Isbel!'Greaves said Jean ripped him with a bowie knife An' thet was all Greaves remembered He died soon after tellin' this story He ave hi was thar when Greaves talked, an' naturally they wondered why Jean Isbel had said 'first for Ellen Jorth'Soood name, Ellen An' then they had Jean Isbel's reason fer sayin' thet to Greaves It caused a lot of talk An' when Si haed hiet the third cut froan to cuss an' rave about Jean Isbel bein' in love with his girl As bad luck would have it, a couple of ot to thet part, 'Greaves, it's the half-breed, an' he's goin' to cut you--FIRST FOR ELLEN JORTH,' when in walked your father!Then it all had to come out--what Jean Isbel had said an' done--an' why How Greaves had backed Simm Bruce in slurrin' you!"