He looked at Luke and said, with an oath,
"Look here, Luke Ravel, your time has come. I'm going to kill you."
My hair arose, my heart seemed to stop beating, but there was no way
out, so Noel and I edged our way over as far as possible, and held our
breath. Luke never turned a hair, nor changed color. He was as cool as
an iceberg, and squarely facing Cartwright said,
"You wouldn't shoot an unarmed man would you, Jim?"
"Ain't you got no gun?"
"No," replied Luke, "I'm unarmed. See," and with that he threw up the
tails of his long coat.
Jim hesitated a minute, and then shoving his gun into his pocket he
said,
"No, by heavens, I won't kill an unarmed man. I'll give you a chance
for your life, but I warn you to fix yourself, because the next time I
see you I'm going to let daylight through your carcass," and with
another oath he turned to walk away. Hardly had he taken two steps, when
there was a blinding flash followed by a loud report, and Jim Cartwright
lay dead, shot through the heart, while Luke Ravel stood over him; a
smoking .38 pocket pistol in his hand.
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