Beaufort Republican. [volume] (Beaufort, S.C.) 1871-1873, 1872-11-07
A QUAKER DETECTIVE.

We were FIVE passengers in all-two
ladies en- the back seat, and middle
aged gentleman and quaker on the mid
die, and myself in the front.
The two ladies might have been mother
and daughter, aunt and niece, governess
and charge, or might have sustained any
Z other relationship which made it proper
for two ladies to travel together unattend-
ed.
The middle-aged gentleman was sprighly
and talkative. He soon struck up an
acquaintance with the ladies, towards
whom in his zeal to do he rather oyerdid
the agreeable - bowling, and smiling and
chatting over his shoulder in way pain.
fully suggestive at tkiS time of life, of q
" crick" in the back. He was evidently
a gay lothario.
The Quaker wore the uniform OF bis
sect, and confined his speech, as many a
parlimentarian would save his credit by
doing, to simply "yeas' and mays y
As for myself, I make it an invariable
rule of the road to be merely q locker on
and listeRer.
Towards evening l was aroused from
one of those reyeries into which Il young
man, without being poet or lover, will
sometimes fall. by an abrupt query from
the talkative gentleman
Are you armed, sir ?"
81 am not" answered, astonished, no
doubt, visibly at the question.
81 am sorry to hear it. he replied /;
"for before reaching our next stopping
place it will be several hours in the night,
and we must pass over apOrtiOn of the
road on which more than one robbery is
reported to have been committed"
The ladies turned pale, but the stranger
did his best to re-assure them.
" Not that | think there is the slightest
danger at present. he resumed, only
when one is responsible for the safety of
the ladies, you know such thing as a
pistol in reach would add materially to
ones confidence"
Your principles, my friend" address
ing the Quaker, I" | presume, are as much
opposed to carrying as using carnal
weapons 2"
Yes, "was the response.
"Have the villains murdered any of
their victims2" the elderly lady nervously
inquired.
Or have they contented themselves
with-with plundering them ?" added the
younger in timorous voice.
Decidedly the latter" the amiable
gentleman hastened to give assurance :;
land We are none of us prepared to offer
resistance in case of attack, so nothing
worse than robbery can possibly befall
us"
Then, after blaming his thoughtlessness
in having unnecessarily introduced a
diSagreeable subject, the gentleman quite
eXcelled. himself in efforts to raise the
spirits of the company, and had succeeded
so we'll by the time night had set in that
all had quite forgotten or only remember
ed their fears to laugh at them.
Our genial companion fairly talked
himself hoarse. Perceiving which he took
from Ills pOChCC q uOA VI newly Invented
cough candy" and after passing it to the
ladies, he helped himself to the balance
and tossed the paper out of the window.
He was in the midst of high encomium
of the new nostrum, more than half the
efficacy of which he insisted depended on
its being taken by suction, when shrill
whistle was heard, and almost immediate
ly the coach stopped while two faces,
hideously blackened, presented them
selves, one at each window.
g Sorry to trouble you," said the man
on the right, acknowledging with bow,
two lady-like screams from the back seat,
but business is business and ours will
soon be over if things 90 on smoothly"
"Of course, gentlemen, you will spare,
as far as may be consistent with your
disagreeable duty, the feelings of these
ladies'" appealed the petite passenger in
his blandest manner.
''Oh, certainly they shall first be
attended to, and shall not be required to
leave their seats, unless their conduct
renders it necessary.
'And now ladies'" continued the rob.
Der, the barrel of his pistol glittering in
the light of the coach lamp, "be so good
as to pass your purses, watches, and such
other trlnkets as may be accessible with
outmuch trouble