LITERATURE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7203, 11 February 1892, Page 1

LITERATURE.

WILD WILL. A WESTERN STORY. (Chambers' Journal.) Not to have seen and known Cußter City ■would, so recently aa six years ago, have been looked upon as a serious defect in a Western man's education. Never to have met Wild Will would at once have stamped one aa a " Tenderfoot." Wild Will, first. His real name was J. B. Hickock ; but this had long been forgotten, and his famous sobriquet stuck to him more closely than his shirt. His reputation as the greatest scout in the West was spread far and wide ; but Western scents, like the majority of mountain guides, do not amount to much. They are great in the personal reminiscence tray, andean drink deeply with impunity, or with any one who invites them ; but in other respects they are generally of the class described as frauds. Wild Will, however, was one of the few whose deeds overshadow their words. His supreme courage and physical strength had endeared him to the rough miners and cowboys, who regarded him aa a hero, and rendered his name a word of terror to every red-man west of the great Missouri. Coster City lies in the Deadwood region of the famous Black Hills, and is pleasantly situated in an open park, hemmed in on all sides by gradually rising hills, rockribbed, and crested with dark towering pines. At the time of whioh I write the ■treets were regularly laid out ; and the buildings, chiefly constructed of logs or rough boards taken from hill-side forests, might be roughly estimated at about one thousand in number. It looked like a promise of good things to come; but the greater attractions of Deadwood nipped it in the bud, and, from a mining town, Custer sank into a centra for supplies. Life in the wild Black Hills is more real and earnest than ib stagnation in the jchools and banks of the old country, as

many a former 'varsity man, or eometin dapper clerk, has discovered; while i wholesome atemnesajomewhat compensate for its not infrequent-brevity. Even parsox are apt to develop "clear grit" in tl bracing atmosphere of the Hills. A clerici friend of the writer's cheerfully pursue his duty in Lead City, Dakota, notwitl standing that his immediate predecease was shot dead in the street by a drunke Indian, and that he himself weekly find " drink-checks " and cartridges figuring ii the collection plate. This last eccentricit; is only the way of the boys, who do no hesitate to play practical jokes upon th man for whom they would die, bo gentle i he with the victims of the " accidents' which are constantly occurring in a mininj camp. The god of Caster waß Whisky, and hi temples in the shape of saloons *ere ii every street. The principal one of the3i waß kept by High-priest Moriarfcy, at Irishman, rod-headed, red-armed, and red hot. The crowd had assembled at Moriarty 'f after mining hours in order to drink and see the fun. There waa a eeuffle in the large bar-room. A slightly built young lad, of not more than eighteen or twenty years of age, was seen struggling in the vice-like grasp of a muscular, brutal-looking miner of twice his age. It was plainly only a question of minutes when the burly rnffian would crush his youthful opponent, But before the older man could free himself from hie delicate-looking but agile an tagonist, they oun gster got in a nasty blow, drawingstreams of blood fromhis opponent's face. The throng laughed at this. Stung by the sound of mockery, the irritated recipient, quick as lightning, drew a pistol from his belt and levelled it. The lad's fate seemed certain. At this moment some one stepped swiftly through the half-open door, laid his hand upon the brawny desperado's shoulders, and, without apparent effort, sent him reeling to the farther end of the bar. " Wild Will !" The words ran in whispered admiration round the room. The miners clustered more closely together ; the more timid, or, possibly, more prudent, of Moriarty's customers withdrew. There was certain to be some free shooting after what had occurred, and both patties were reputed handy with their shooting irons. The new-comer stood come six feet two inches in height, and was exceedingly powerfully built. His face was open and highly intelligent; his flaxen hair fell in long thick ringlets upon his broad shoulders ; his eyes, blue and laughing in expression, looked one straight in the face while he spoke ; and his thin, closely-compressed lips were partly covered by a heavy blonde moustache. He seemed such a one as women and children would instinctively cling to in the ! moment of danger. This hero, who appeared strangely out of place in a Western bar-room wore a costume which waa a curious combination of the attire of a prairie ranger with that of a fashionable dandy. From underneath the skirts of his elaborately embroidered buckskin coat gleamed the butts of a pair of silver-mounted revolvers which were his inseparable companions. The bully speedily recovered himself. Staggering to his feet, he darted back towards bis assailant, only to recoil with dismay from the dark muzzle of a revolver, and the calm, mischievous eye which gleamed coldly and cruelly behind it. "Drop that shootin' iron at once, sirree !" The pistol fell with a crash upon the floor. " Curse you, Will !" growled the fellow, as his hand moved stealthily towards his belt. " What do you interfere for P 'Tisn't no business o' yourn." " Hands up, Jack— sharp ! or I Bhoot." ' " Will means business." 11 1 say, mate, that lad's in luck." " Send. I may die, but I wouldn't stand in old Colorado Jack's shoes for nary red cent." Such were some of the remarks which the miners addressed one to another. Clearly Wild Will was a prime favourite in Custer City. The quarrelsome ruffian, who had been called "Colorado Jack," felt this, and knew that he stood practically friendless and alone in the crowd. He shifted uneasily, first on one leg, then on the other, and at length managed to blaster out : " It isn't the first time, you hound, that you've spiled my game ; but it's got to be the last. One of us shall be wiped out, and I don't much care which." " Be it so," said Wild Will, with the faintest possible flush suffusing his fair face. "You hear him, gentlemen. I accept the challenge." "Then we will settle this little business here and now." " No, but you don't !" thundered Moriarty, snatching up a Winchester repeating rifle. " I'll have no bloodshed in my place. Go outside, and do what you like ; but you shan't bring the Sheriff or the Vigilance here; so I tell you plain, Jack." " Hold !" The word rang out like a bugle-note. It was Wild Will who had spoken. He continued, firmly and coldly : "As I am the challenged person, it is my right to select both place of meeting and weapons. There is no need for further interruption of the evening's amusement. Colonel Coldey, you will act for me. Moriarty, I stand drinks round." "Hurrah! for Wild Will, the bravest scout, and the dashingeßt Iniin fighter in the hills <" So the company shouted as they clustered around the bar and prepared to drink at their threatened hero's expense. This openly evinced partisanship was more than Colorado Jack could endure, so he scowlingly withdrew from those who no longer desired his presence. As the meanest of living things would seem to have some parasite, bo it was with him. He wse followed by a low-browed, bandy-legged, villainous-looking Mexican, who wan known in Custer City by the name of " Chuck' halter." The fellow had acquired this name from his having once narrowlj escaped hanging for the unpardonable crinn of horse stealing, at the hands of justly in censed Arizona cow-boys. When tbe two worthies had got well out of sight of Moriarty's, Jack turned rounc to his follower, and inquired: "Well Chuckhalter, what have you got to Bay ?" "You should have wiped him out,' answered the Mexican. "I would have given a hundred onzas to have seen ii done." "Ah ! I remember, mate, you've fel the weight of the skunk's hand, too 'Taint a light un\" The Mexican twisted his features inti an ugly grin ; bnt he answered nothing. "Well, I'm waitin', Chuckhalter. Yot see, it couldn't be done ; or I'd 'a done it aurely. But how'a the job to be finishei off now ? What do you say— Bhall it bi knife or pistols?" "If you are wise, neither. You are m match for him whom you call Wild Will I say watch, and wipe him out with a snap shot aa he goes to his diggings." " What ! and be lynched P The boys 'u< be certain to spot me. No ; not that game old boy, any way." "Take your own course, my friend; onlj don't expect me to bury your carcase." "All right; cea3e your croaking, can' you !" '' Perhaps Colorado Jack saw the angr flush mount to his companion's brow- anj way, he proceeded more quietly : " You g( Chuckhalter, and see that old dunderheac Coldey, and arrange thiß affair for m< Tell him that I select bowies, across handkerchief to-night, in one of Moriarty' rooms. ' The Mexican looked at bis companio:

le with a glance equally composed of surprise ts and admiration, as he replied : "It shall as he done. And I hope you will come safely is out of it; that I do, Jack, with all my te heart." il " I don't care mxich ; but I'll take good >B care that he Bhan't. Go now, and rei- member that I have entrusted my honour •r into your hands." n Honour ! How easily may the word be Is degraded ! a (To be continued). y i