The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1882-01-26
SACRAMENTO.

1t was an odd name for a girl-Sacra-
mento.
So the girl herself thought as she
stopped down beside spring at the
foot of q cottonwood tree and lazily
dropped her pail into the water.
at ought to have been given to q
boy, if it was a fit name to give to any
body" she said, quite aloud. :" But I'm
more boy than girl anyway"
This last was added rather bitterly,
as she looked at her brown, rough
hands and her bare ankles, and thought
of the /" boys work" she had to do.
And it was hard to believe that this
was the best kind of life for young
girl like Sacramento. Here she lived
alone, for her father was down at the
mouth of the canon all day. The gar
den work she was obliged to do, and
the care of the cattle fell upon her.
1t was not often that she saw any per-
son but her father, although now and
then, in spite of herself, she came in
contact with the rude men of the min
ing camp up above.
Yet Sacramento bad her dream, one
that she scarcely dared to own J" bnt
it came to her often as she went about
her work.
She knew that down at Santa Bar
bara and i'll the towns along the coast,
and far, far away across wide stretches
of the continent to the great East,
there ere s iris who lived lives very diff
ferent from her life and she dreamed
of such life for herself
"Oh, if L conld only go away from
herel" she cried out, almost as one
cries for help. "lf I could only 60
down to San Frar ci co and go to school
there for a single year All, if only
had five hundred dollars !"
Suddenly there was step-not of
man, but borse-on the bank behind
her, and then some one spoke. She
knew the voice without looking up. 1t
was Pete Larrabee, fellow who lived
down on Hahnemapn's plantation, two
miles along the trail. He sometimes
rode by. He had not heard her last
words at all (; yet strangely enough his
own were repetition of them,
GIVE hundred dollars, Sac," said
he. Give hundred dollars in gold
Dye want ter earn it! There's yer
chance" and he threw down to her
bit of paper crumpled into ball.
She picked it mp and slowly unfold.
ing it ran her eyes over its contents.
$500 Reward.
The above amount will be paid fol informa-
tiQn leading to the arrest, dead or alive, of
Walter Some,s, who has worked Tor sone time
past on MaXwell's ranch. Said SOmers II about
eighteen years old and five and 2 half feet
high, rather good-looking, with light curly
boir L1uo and 1iobt mn no Wba,,
last seen he had on black slouch hat, gray
business suit with blue flannel shirt and boots
with red tops malked with makers name.
The name of the county sheriff was
signed at the bottom of the bill. Sac
ramento, having glanced it through,
looked up.
"Hes been stealin horses" exclaimed
Pete "Got off last night with four
of Max'll's best somewheres. Thet re-
ward won't do much good, though,
Their Regulators'll lasso him an string
him up long fore ther law'll git started.
They're hevln' a meetin' now up at the
Gulch. l tell ye, they are mad. They'll
make quick work eff they ketch 'em.
Yer father there. Ye needn't look fur
him afore night much"
Then, after a word or two more, the
man rode on; and presently Sacramen-
to took up her pail and with the sheriff7s |
bill still in her hand went slowly up
the bank and across the trail toward the |
house, thinking very seriously about the |
five hundred dollars all the while.
It was some hours after this, and the
afternoon sun was going down behind
the tops of the mountains, that Sacra-
mento, having finished her housework,
vas preparing to sit down on the porch
TO do her sewing when she was met in
the doorway by young man she had
never seen before.
And yet he was no stranger. The girl
knew him instantly, although the
slouch hat was pulled down over the
fiaxen hair and blue eyes, and the gray
pants, torn and muddy, had been
drawn out of the boot legs so as to no
longer allow the red tops of the boots
with the makers name to be seen. 1t
was the horsethief. s.
She did not, however, express any
surprise as she saw him. She was ac-
customed to the sight of rough, evil
men and at the first glance she had
felt that this one could not be either
very wicked or very dangerous. He
was not much more than a lad, and had
n air of gentleness and good breeding
about him that six months of Western
life and the miserable plight he was in
at the moment had by NJ means de-
stroyed. He seemed to b. short for
breath, too, and was trembling as il he
had been running.
Instinctively he raised his hand to-
ward his hat and then, bethinking him.
self, dropped it again.
"Could you give me something to
eat and drink?' he asked, in hesitat-
ng voice. " Anything will do ] am