Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1883-10-04
The Stnrw Teller.
SACR Am ENTO.

SACRAM ENTO.
It was an odd name for girl-sacra-
mento.
So the girl herself thought as she stopped
down beside a spring at the foot OF cot
tonwood tree, and lazily dropped her pail
into the water. :.
"It ought to have been given to boy, If
it was a fit name to give anybody she
said, quite aloud. "But Pm more BOY than
girl, anyway" ,
This fact was added rather bitterly, as
she looked at her brown, rough hands and
her bare ankles, and thought of the boys
workn she had to do.
And it was hard to believe that this was
the best kind of a life for young girl ike
Sacramento. Here she lived alone, Tor her
father was down at the mouth Of the canon
all day. The garden work she was obliged
to do, and the care of the cattle fell upon her.
It was not often that she saw any person
but her father, although now and then, IN
spite of herself, she came IN contact Win
the rude men of the mining camp up above:
Yet Sacramento had her dream, one that
she ssscarcely dared to own" but it came
to her often as she went about her work.
She knew that down at Santa Barbara
and in the towns along the coast, and Tar,
away across wide stretches of the continent
to the great East, there were girls who lived
very different from her life and she dream
ed of such life for herself.
"Oh, if I could only 60 away from here"
she cried out, almost as one cries TOR help.
eff could only 60 down to San FRANCISCO
and 90 to school there for a single year /!
All, if only had five hundred dollar" !"
Suddenly there was a step--not OF man,
but of a horse-on the bank pehlno ner,
and then some one spoke. She knew the
voice without looking up. 1t was Pete
Larrabee, a fellow who lived down on
Hahnemann's plantation, two miles along
the trail. He sometimes rode by. He had
not heard her last words at all; yet strange
ly enough his own were a repetition OF
them.
"Five 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 crumbled
into ball.
She picked it up, and slowly unfolding
it, ran her eye over its contents:
$500 REWARD.
The above amount will be paid for information
leading to the arrest dead or alive, of Waiter
SomerS who has worked for some time past on
Maxwel's Ranch. Said Somers is about elgh-
teen years old and five and a half feet high,
rather good-looking, with light curly halr, piue
ewes and a light moustache. When last seen
he had on black slouch hat, grey business
suit with blue flannel shirt, and boots with red
tops marked with the makers name
The name of the county sheriff was sign
ed ut the bottom of the bill. Sacramento,
having glanced it through, looked up.
"He's been stealin' horses" exclaimed
Pete. "Got off last night with four of Max
Wells best sOnaewheres. That reward won't
do much good, though. The Regulators II
lasso him an string him up long fore ther
laW'll cit started. They're hevin' a meetin'
now up at the Gulch. l tell ye, they are
mad. They'll make quick work eff they
ketch him. Yer fathers there. Ye needn't
look fur him home afore night, much"
Then, after word or two more, the
man rode on; and presently Sacramento
took up her pail, and went slowly up the
bank and across the trail toward tho house,
thinking very seriously about the five hum
dred dollars all the while.
It was some hours after this, and the at-
ternoon sun was going down behind the
tops of the mountains, that Sacramento,
having finished her hOusework, was pre-
pairing 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 vet he was no stranger. The girl
knew him instantly, although the slouch
hat was pulled down over the tiaXen hair
and blue eyes, and the grey pants, torn anu
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.
She did not, however, express any sur,
prise as she saw him. She was accustomed
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 danger
Gus. He was not much more than lad
and had an air of gentleness and gooa
breeding about him that six months OF
Western life, and the miserable plight ne
was in at the moment, had by no means
DESTROYED He seemed to be short fol
breath, too, and was trembling as If he had
been running.
Instinctlvely he raised his hand towards
his hat and then, bethinking himself, drop
ped it again.
"Could YOU give me something to eat and
drink ," he asked, in q hesitating voice.
"Anything will do. / am very hungry
II have had nothing to eat since last
night"
"Come in," said Sacramento, gravely,
In her voice was neither kindness or un-
kindness. She trying to realize the situa.
ton she was in. "COme in and sit down.
began taking down from the shelves milk
and bread and meat, as she slowly did So
turning over the matter in her own mind
Here was this man who had been stealing
horses and for whose capture five hundred
dollars was offered, in her own kitchen
Five hundred dollars! Exactly the sum
she had been wishing for-the sum that
would take her down to San Francisco tC
school and help her make a lady of herself
And this sum may be hers if She could in
some way secure this stranger, or somehow
keep him in the house until help arrived
Help: Why, she hardly needed help. He
was weak and exhausted, and in the drawer
of the kitchen table there was a loaded re-
volver which well she knew how to use.
She came out presently and set the thing:
before him, bringing also a teapot from the
stove and pouring for him 4 cup of tea
Then she went and sat down by the window
and watched him furtively as he ate:
In spite Of his caution, he had taken OF
his hat while he was eating. She coult
better see what he was like. 1t was an al
most boyish face, worn, but not wicked
with the curling hair lying in damp clus
ters upon his pale brow. In the hands
c,,,ou on6 wel1-ShaDen. and in all his mo