News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1884-08-21
Sacramento.


1t was an odd name for girl-Sacra
mento.
So the girl herself thought as sh
stopped down beside a spring at th
foot of cottonwood tree and laziI
dropped her pail into the water.
"lt ought to have been given to boy
II 1t was fit name to give TO anybody,
she said quite aloud. ssBut I'm NOR
boy than girl, anyway"
This fact was added rather bitterly
as she looked at her brown, rougl
hands and her bare ankle. and though
OF the "boy's work" she had to do.
And it was hard to believe that thi.
was the best kind of life for young
girl ike Sacramento. Here she lived
alone, for her father was down at the
mouth of the canyon all day. The gar
den work she was obliged to do, and
the care of the garden fell upon her. 1t
was not often that she saw any person
but her father, although now and then,
In spite of herself, she came in contact
with the rude men of The mining camp
up above.
Yet Sacramento had her dream, one
that she scarcely 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
far, far away across wide stretches of
continent to the great East, there were
girls who lived very different from her
life, and she dreamed of such life for
herself.
''Oh, if could only go away from
here y she cried out, almost as one
cries out for help. "IfI 1 could only go
down 10 San Francisco and go to school
there for a single year. All, if I had
$780,"
Suddenly there was a step-not a
man, but of a horse-on the bank be-
hind her, and then some one spoke.
She knew the voice without looking up.
1t was Pete Larrabee, a fellow who
lived down on Hahneman's plantation,
two miles along the trail He some
times rode by. He had not heard her
last words at all; yet, strangely enough
his own words were a repetition of
them.
''Five hundred dollars, Sac" said he;
$500 in gold Dye want ter earn it
Theirs yer chance" and he threw
down to her bit of paper crumpled
into ball.
She picked it up, and, slowly unfold
ing it, ran her eyes over the contents.
$500 REWARD.
The above amount will be paid for in
formation leading to the arrest, dead or |
alive, of Walter Somers, who has worked
for some time past on Maxwell's ranch.
Said Somers is about Is years old and |
five and half feet high, rather good
looking, with light, curly hair, blue eyes
and light mustache. When last seen
he had on black slouch hat, gray busi-
ness suit and blue flannel shirt and boots
with red tops marked with the makers
name.
The name of the county sheriff was
signed at the bottom of the bill. Sacra-
mento, having glanced it through,
looked up.
"He's been a stealin' horses p ex-
claimed Pete. ''Got off last night with
four of Maxwell's best, somewheres.
That reward won't do much good, though.
The regulators'll Iasso him and string
him up fore the law'll git started. They
are havin' meetin' now up at the gulch.
I tell We they are mad. They'll make
fathers there. Ye needn't look for him
home afore night, much
Then, after word or two more the
man rode on, and presently Sacramento
took up her pail, and with the sheriffs
bill still in her hand, went slowly up the
bank and across the trail toward the
house, thinking very seriously about the
$500 all the while.
1t 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 |
was preparing to sit down on the porch |
to do her sewing, when she was met in |
the doorway by young man whom she |
had never seen before. And yet he was |
no stranger. The girl knew him instant
", although the slouch hat was pulled |
down over the faxen 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 horse thief.
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
very much more than lad and had an
air of gentleness and good breeding
about him that six months of Western !
life and the plight he was in at that mo-
ment had by no means destroyed. He
seemed to be short of breath, too, and
was trembling as if he had been run
ming
Instinctively he raised his hand to-
ward his head, and then, bethinking
himself. dropped it again.
Gould you give me something to eat
and drink % he asked, in hesitating
voice. Anything will do, am very
hungry. II have had nothing to eat
since last night"
ssCome in" said Sacramento gravely.
In her voice there was neither kindness
nor unkindness, she trying to realize
the situation she was in. "Come in and
sit down -
Then she went into closet near bv,
and began taking down milk and bread
and meat, as she slowly did so turning
the matter over in her mind. Here was
this man who had been stealing horses,
and for whose capture $500 was offered,
in her own kitchen. Five hundred dol
lars Exactly the sum she had been
wishing for-the sum that would take
her down to San Francisco to school
and make lady of her. And this sum
NAV be hers If she could in some way
secure this stranger or somehow keep
him in the house until help arrived.
Helpl Why she hardly needed help.
He was weak and exhausted, and in the
drawer of the kitchen table there was