Picture-Play Weekly (Apr-Oct 1915)

Satan McAllister's Heir DOMINO By Joseph N. Carlton This story, taken from the play by the Domino Players, is based upon the claim that there is some good, and often a great deal, in the worst of men. Satan McAllister earned his name, and deser^'ed it, at least in the eyes of most people, but see what happened when the good in him showed itself. The cast in the play was: Satan McAllister Walter Edwards Boh Ellis Thomas Chatterton Mrs. Ellis Margaret Thompson Doll\' Ellis Thelma Salter THE name of Satan hail been affixed to that of McAllister as though he iiad been bom with it. And he was as much feared by the people of Coyote Count\ as that individual himself. His crueltj-, his selfishness, and bis overbearing ways, always backed bj" the quick and unwarned pull of a trigger, ii •.necessary, had gained the name for him. And. besides being the most feared man of the vicinity, he was also one of :he most powerful, owing to the fact that the greater part of the land in that county belonged to him. Great stretches : f grazing ground were known to helong to Satan McAllister, and no one dared settle near them for fear of arousi:ig his enrair\-. That is, no one^^red to before Bob Ellis. . = When Ellis took up. a claim on the outskirts of McAllister^ ranch, and settled there with his wife and little daughter, the landowner was wroth. He wanted no "squatters" near his land, he said. A week later, he visited Ellis and threatened him with dire ftings if he did not vacate forthwith. Ellis, being no coward, flatly declined the invitation. "This land is mine," he said terseh'. "When I go, it will be of my own choosing, not of yours." The two stood eye to ej-e for a full minute. Then McAllister, with an ominous curse, strode out of the house. In front, little Dolly, the five-year-old daughter of the Ellises, was playing with . her pet puppy. Rags, a chubby, fluffy bundle of^^nine liveliness.. McAllister nearly trod on the little animal, as he stepped toward his waiting horse, and, with an oath, he kicked it savagely out of his wa}^ The next instant he gave vent to an exclamation of pain and surprise, for a swiftly thrown stone had struck him full iu the eye. His assailant, Dolly, her little form trembling with anger at the treatment of her pet, burst intb a storm of childish invective, mingled with tears. "Old — uglj— devil !" she sobbed. caressing the still yelping puppy; "\ hate you — ^hate A-ou-r-hate you !" For once in his life, Satan McAllister was astonished. The child's absolute fearlessness somehow appealed to his calloused heart. Her vengeful words rang in his ears as he rode:; away. , Strange to sav, . too. the chiles aagfSaf -caused him to relax m his determmafiSff^ to drive Ellis from his claim, though the two men remained bitter foes, f Yef it did not prevent him from ^feifig Dolly, who, nevertheless, refused #1 his overtures of friendship, from fi^S to time, during the ensuing weeks. That summer the-most severe drought in years came to Coj-ote County. Ellis' cattle wandered afar, and with his wife he sought for them. When they returned to the house it was to i&nd that Dolly and Rags had disappeared That night McAllister joined the searching part}', which was combing the wilderness for a trace of the lost child. But when they returned, exhausted and disheartened, to renew their search on the morrow, Satan kept on. "She cussed me once," he said simply. "I want to get the little un to take it back." At dawn he found her, asleep with her pet, in a deep arro\-o. And as Rags seemed inclined to forgive his past injur\-. in his joy at seeing a human face, little Dolly did likewise. Satan and the child adjusted ail their difxerences, the former, at her bequest even kissing ihe somewhat grimy puppj^ as evidence of good faith, before starting back to the settlement. But they had not gone far when a series of whiplike reports from a patcli of chaparral caused Satan ^McAllister to put spurs to his horse. An instant later a band of half-drunken braves, who had jumped the reservation near by, and had alreadjr made several raids on isolated settlers, dashed out of the brush and galloped after him. Soon McAllister saw that there was but one chance for them. While he stood off the redskins, his horse, carrxnng Dolly and her dog, might get back to the settlement to bring aid. At least, Dolly would be saved. Dashing into a ravine, he dismounted and hurriedly lashed the child and her^pet to his saddle^ A^ he did so, Dolly" kissed him. ThCr hext -jnoment the horse was thundering down the ravine toward the settlement and help, while Satan McAllister, clearing a suspicious mist from his eyes, turned at bay. His riSe spoke once — ^twice. and each time one of the oncoming, yelping braves crumpled up and tumbled limply into the dust. Their fate taught their companions caution, however, and afterward it was only now and then that the -rancher got a glimpse of head or arm for a target. Twice one of the redskins' bullets found its mark, and, though ;Mc.A.llister seldom missed, soon his ammunition was nearly gone. The wounded man grinned cynically, as he thought of what was coming, and waited for the rush. Frontiersmen still tell of that fight. How ^NIcAlUster, when his ammunition gave out, took refuge in a cave and there lousht and killed the Indians'