Argosy, Vol. 1 (December 9, 1882) — page 391: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

a) eel ‘“ Get ready, boys,” cried Brainard at last ; “ this thing has got to be settled one way or the other, mighty quick. Our only show 1s to get inside of that house and fight it out hand to hand.” “We're with ye, Jim,” all shouted, and, with a yell, they made one more wild rush for the door, shooting as they ran. The door, being much weakened from the many shots it had received from their Winchesters, gave way to the force of the three heavy bodies thrown against it, and the next moment such a fight was going on within that dark, steam filled room as men only make when there is no retreat possible on either side. To the detectives, defeat meant certain death; to the moonshiners, what to them was worse, a long term of imprisonment. The fight raged on in that stifling darkness till, at last, Brainard—he never knew just how—found himself outside the house engaged in mortal combat with a powerful moonshiner who was struggling with might and main to break Brainard’s hold upon his wrist that he might plunge a long wicked knife into his heart. At last, breaking the lock which he had about the man’s body and snatch- ~ ing his revolver from his belt, Brainard placed it close to his antagonist’s side aad fired. Straightening himself up and throwing his arms above his head, the man fell, face downward, upon the ground without a groan. As he half turned on his side in his last dying convulsion Brainard recognized in the faint morning light the dark, rugged, almost handsome, features of Jeth Baxter. The fight was now soon finished, and the detectives had won. After the smoke of battle cleared away, the results showed two dead men on the side of the moonshiners, one dead and one very badly wounded on the Government side, and not a man of either party who did not show more than one ugly gash as a result of the conflict. From her point of vantage up among the rocks, after lighting the warning fire, Liz had stood and watched and listened to the terrible struggle going on down in the valley. That day, in the large room of the little jail, rigid in death, Jeth Baxter and Giles Oaks lay side by side. Over in the front room of the little tavern lay the _ dead marshal, the first one to fall in the fight. An extra force of deputies had been brought into the town and guarded every street. Sue Oaks had been to the jail, where she shed tears over both dead brother and lover. Liz Bascom had also been to the jail, but she shed no tears. Just as the sun was once more setting behind the Western mountains some one came rushing into the village, breathless, to report that a woman’s body had been seen floating down over the rapids, and that as soon as it reached still water several men had rushed in and dragged it out; and who should it be but Liz Bascom, whom everybody had seen but an Lour or two before! And so died poor Liz Bascom, and her secret with her. Why she had done such a thing no one knew. Yes, one man knew, or suspected, but his business was ferreting out secrets and keeping them until needed. This one would never be needed, for the book of the lives of Jeth Baxter and Liz Bascom was closed. GON GOO @ YN| CO