Love stories; Miners -- Fiction; Mines and mineral resources -- Colorado -- Fiction; Strikes and lockouts -- Fiction
Momentarily forgetful, the strikers swarmed around the fallen building,
tearing aside crushed timbers, tugging at the snarled cable, if
perchance some of their own were within the ruins. There came the
spiteful spat of a solitary bullet, then a volley. With a yell of
terror, the strikers broke and fled to the talus behind the saloon. They
were now the pursued. They paused to fire no return shots. Stumbling,
scrambling, dodging, through tangled scrub and sheltering thicket, down
by the mill, down through the cañon, spurred by zipping bullets that
clipped twigs and spat on stones around them; down by the Devil's Elbow
they fled, till sheltering scrub made pursuit dangerous; then,
unmolested, they scattered, one by one, in pairs, in groups, never to
return.
Even yet the startled echoes were repeating to the peaceful mountains
the tale of riot and death, but they bent not from their calm to the
calm below that was looking up to them with the eyes of death. Set in
its frame of splintered timbers, the body of Pierre rested, a ruined
life in a ruined structure, and both still in death. Wide-open eyes
stared from the swarthy face, the strained lips parted in a sardonic
smile, showing for the last time the gleaming teeth. Morrison had
triumphed, but the wide open eyes saw the triumph that was yet defeat.
Far up on the mountain-side they looked and saw death pursuing death.
They saw Morrison climbing higher and higher, saw him strain his eyes
ever ahead, never behind, saw them rest on two figures, saw Morrison
crouch behind a rock and a shimmer of light creep along the barrel of
his levelled rifle. The eyes seemed eager as they rested on another
figure above him that stretched forth a steady hand; saw jets of flame
spring from two guns. Then they gleamed with a brighter light as they
saw the rifle fall from Morrison's hand; saw Morrison straighten out,
even as he lay, his face upturned and silent. That was all in life that
Pierre cared to know. Perhaps the sun had changed, but the gleam of
triumph in the staring eyes faded to the glaze of death.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account