Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1883-10-04

II did not do it. Upon my honor, did
not!" he said. "It was that man Dennis"
Sacramento breathed great sigh of re-
lief Horse-stealing was held in that sec
tion to be crime worse than murder; and
she was by no means free from the popular
estimate of its grave nature.
"Oh, l am glad of that" cried she.
"But'-she hesitated, and then went on
doubtfully-"but then how was it? Why
did they say it was you: And why did
you run aWay:"
"'It was Dennis doings, their laying it
to me. He did that to clear himself. And
after that, you know as well as I do, there
would have been no use in trying to prove
myself innocent. They always hang a
hOrse-thief first and then consider his guilt
AFTERWARDS hdd to run to save my life."
"Do you know that there is reward
offered for your capture ?"
81 know that the Regulators are after
me-" "They came pretty near catching me,
too, this noon. | just escaped them and
came down the canon by the mountain trail.
I have had hard run for it, and what with
no sleep or food for "a hours. | am about
used up. felt as though could not 60 an
other step when | saw your house. YOU
you have been very good to me. l shall
never forget"
"But what are you going to do now?"
safe here"
81 know it, But 1 threw them off the
track this noon, and do not think they are
within five miles of me. Now [ have had
something to eat, L will take to the woods
again. Ihope may get clear away. III
don't t,"-his voice trembled and tears came
into his eyes. eff / don't / shall get a
hanging, suppose. Oh, what fool was
not to prefer home to this sort of thing!
l,,5f
if it wast't for my father and mother"
And the poor fellow fairly broke down.
"Harkw Sacramento exclaimed. She
had been crying, too; she could not help 1t.
They both listened. In a moment they
heard plainly the sound of horses coming
down the trail The girl turned with in
slant selfpossession.
"Go in there! Quick! Quick! There is
not a moment to lose! Here, take your
hat"
And handing his hat to him, she half
pushed him across the room and into her own
little room that led off from it, Then she
hurriedly cleared the table again, barely
finishing the task as the horsemen halted at
the door.
There were three of them. One was her
father. Sacramento knew the other two
men by sight. They were rough, but Of the
better sort of those who made up the dwell
ers in Kelly Gulch. The faces of all three
were stern and forbidding, and they evi-
dently had been riding hard. They dis
mounted together.
"Sac," began her father as he entered the
door, "hev you seen anything of young
chap, afoot or a-horseback, coming this
way?" - 49,.
Sacramento had expected the question,
and was ready for it. And she meant, if it
were possible, to answer it without lie.
GA young chap about eighteen years OF
age, and five feet and a half high, rather
good-looking and with red top boots on"
HYes! Yes! That's him,w cried one of
the other men, eagerly. "Have you seen
him? Has he been here?"
81 was only quoting from this handbill," "
said Sacramento, taking the paper from the
shelf where she had laid it.
''Then you hain't seen him at all:" asked
her father.
81 have been right here all day, and no.
body has gone by except Pete l4arabee. 1t
was he who gave me this bill. Are you
sure that he came this way, the-the-
hOrse-thief?"
''No; but we didn't know but he mighter.
The chances is that he is slOped off to the
mountains, meanin' ter go through Stove
pipe Pass. They'll git him, though, afore
sundoWn."
''It's sundown now," said Sacramento.
'Then, they've got him nOW," was the
sententious response. "And we should be
too late for the hangin', eff we sh'd go back.
Leastways"-this was added to his compan-
ions-'you'd better come inand have bite
before you 60"
So presently the three men sat down to
the supper that the young girl had quickly
prepared for them. And while they were
eating, she herself, at her fathers bidding,
went out to take the saddle off Bueno, his
horse, and give him his feed. AS she ap-
preached the door once more, a few minutes
later, she heard words which caused her to
stop and listen.
81 don't like ter say anything against that
kid o. yOurn, neighbour" one of the men
was saying, "but it hez kinderseemed to me
all ther while's though she sorter had some
thin on her mind like. Ie don't suppose
she knows anything bout thct young teller,
arter all:'
Sacramento's father laughed at this as if
it was too absurd to be considered.
The other, however was not to be laughed
out of his suspicious.
eur all we know" persisted he, 'she
may hev hid him somewhere on the prem
mysis."
''It's easy enough to see," returned the
proprietor of the said 'premmysis," testify.
"Where dye think she's hid him? In her
bedrOOm?'
AS he said this, Sacramento, who was now
near enough to see into the kitchen, saw
her father rise from his chair and step to the
door of the room where she had concealed
the fugitive. Her heart almost stopped
beating, as she saw him push open the door
and enter the room, followed by his COM
paniOnS.
"We'll make a cluS search of it while we
are about it," she heard him say within.
And then she stood there in terrible SuS-
pense upon the porch, expecting every in
slant to hear the shout that would follow the
discovery of the fugitive.
But no such shout was heard and instead
of it, Il moment after, the two men came out
again, her fatherstill laughing at his friend.
What could it mean: Had the young
man been able to conceal himself in the
room and so evade their search? That was
not possible Then she thought of the Win
dow. Could he have escaped from the room
by that? The window was so small she
could scarcely believe that he could have
crept through it. And yet he must have
done SO. ~
She went hurriedly to the back of the
house and then down beyond the horse,
sheds. No one could be seen. She halted
a moment under a live-oak tree just at the
edge of the garden. The evening was very
calm and still, and the twilight shadows
were deepening fast. VAST the rustling OF
the windin the bOughs overhead that caught
her ear? She listened.
"Hist! am herein the tree"
The words came in a distinct whisper
from directly above her.
She stood and thought Il single moment
heforn rpDlvinr Then she said, "N Ou must