The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1869-11-12

moneys temptation to the evilly dispos-
ed think you said your address was
San Francisco. l shall endeavor to CALL
1t may be stated here that Tennessee had q
fine flow of humor, which no business pre-
occupation could wholly subdue.
The exploit was his last. Red Dog and
Sandy Bar made common cause against
the highwayman. Tennessee was hunted
in very much the same fashion as his pro-
totype--the grizzly. AS the tolls closed
around him, he made desperate dash
through the Bar, emptying his revolver at
the crowd before the Arcade Saloon, and
so on up Grizzly Canon; but at its farther
extremity he was stopped by small man,
on gray horse. The men looked at each
other a moment in silence Both were
fearless; both selfpossessed and indepen-
dent; and both types of civilization that
in the seventeenth century would have
been called heroic, but in the nineteenth,
simply RECKLESS" "What have you got
1.-TWO bowers and an ace" said the stran-
ger, as quietly, showing two revolvers and
bowieknife. "That takes me-" returned
Tennessee; and, with this gamblers cpl
gram, he threw away his useless pistol, and
rode back with his captor.
1t was warm night. The cool breeze
which usually sprung up with the going
down of the sun behind the chapparal-
crested mountain was that evening withheld
from Sandy Bar. The little canon was
sitting with heated, resinous odors, and
the decaying drift-wood on the Bar sent
forth faint, sickening exhalations. The
feverishness of day, and its fierce passions,
still filled the camp. Lights moved rest
lessly along the bank of the river, striking
no answering reflection from its tawny cur
rent. Against the blackness ofthe pines the
windows of the old loft above the express
office stood out staringly bright; and
through their curtainless panes the loungers
below could see the forms of those who
were even then deciding the fate of Ten
nessee And above all this, etched on the
dark armament, rose the Sierra, remote
and passionless, crowned with remoter,
passionless stars.
The trial of Tennessee was conducted as
fairly as was consistent with Judge and jury
who felt themselves to some extent obliged
to justify, in their verdict, the previous If
Irregularities of arrest and Indictment. The
law of Sandy Bar was implacable, but not
feeling of the chase were over: with Tennes-
see in their hands they were ready to listen
patiently to any defence, which they were
already satisfied was insufficient There
being no doubt in their own minds, they
were willing to give the prisoner the bene-
fit of any that might exist Secure in the
hypothesis that he ought to be hanged, on
general principles, they INDUCED him with
more latitude of defence than his reckless
hardihood seemed to ask. The judge ap-
peared to be moro anxious than the prison
er, who, otherwise unconcerned, evidently
took grim pleasure in the responsibility
he had created II don't take any hand in
this yer game, had been his invariable, but
good humored reply to all questions. The
judge-who was also his captor-for mo-
ment vaguely regretted that he had not
shot him "on sight" that morning, but pres
emily dismissed this human weakness as
unworthy of the judicial mind. Neverthe-
less, when there was tap at the door, and
it was said Tennessee's partner was there
on behalf of the prisoner, he was admitted
at once without question. Perhaps the
younger members of the jury, 10 whom the
proceedings were becoming irksomely
For he was not, certainly, an imposing
figure. Short and stout, with square face,
sunburned into a preternatural redness,
clad in loose duck Jumper" and trousers
streaked and splashed with red soil, his as
pect under any circumstances would have
been quaint, and was now even ridiculous.
As he stopped to deposit at his feet a heavy
carpet bag he was carrying, it became OBJ
vious, from partially developed legends
and inscriptions, that the material with
which his trousers were patched had been
originally intended for less ambitious
covering. Yet he advanced with great
gravity, and, after having shaken the hand
of each person in the room with labored
cordiality, he wiped his serious, perplexed
face on red bandanna handkerchief, q
shade lighter than his complexion, laid his
powerful hand upon the table to steady
himself and thus addressed the Judge:
81 was passin' by" he began, by way Of
apology, "and thought I'd just step in
and see how things were gettin' on with
Tennessee thar-my pardener. It's hot
night. I disremember any such weather
before on the Bar"
He paused a moment, but nobody volun-
teering any other meteorological recollec.
ton, he again had recourse to his pocket
handkerchief, and for some moments mop
ped his face diligently.
"Have you anything to say in behalf o.
the prisoner 2" said the judge, finally.
"That's it," said Tennessees Partner, il
tone of relief. II come var as Tennessee't
Notwithstanding him nigh on four years
off and on, wet and dry, in luck and out o
luck. His ways amt alters my ways but
thar amt any p'ints in that young man
thar amt any liveliness as he's been up tc
as I don't know. And you SEE to me, se7
-confidential-like, and between mar
and man SEE you, DO you know anything
in his behalf' and seq to you, SEE /
confidential like, as between man and mar
what should man know of his pard
ner 2"
"Is this all you have to say asked the
judge, impatiently, feeling, perhaps, thai
| q dangerous sympathy of humor was be
ginning to humanize the court.
"Thet's so," continued Tennessees Part
ner. "It amt for me to say anything agin
him. And now what's the case9 Here'
Tennessee wants money, wants it bad, and
doesn't like to ask it of his old pardner.-
Well, what does Tennessee dol He lay
for stranger, and he fetches that stranger
And you lays for him, and you fetches him
and the honors is easy. And l put it tx
you-bein' r-minded-an-andt to yo,
gentlemen. all. as far-minded men, eff THU