Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1884-09-12
had q once placed confidence n ne

which would cause her to respect me
more than v
These agreeable reflections were sud-
denly interrupted. The disguised pas
senger, as the coach, having reached
the top of the ascent, was passing a
lonely thicket, sprang to his feet. and
pointed a pistol at my head.
"'Fork over that money, you Young
coon!" he cried, hoarsely, .'before you
are a corpse! No noise, or l fire."
"What money!" l stammered, in Or
der to gain time to draw my pistol.
1.-The money-the ten thousand dol
lars!" he said.
l fumbled in vain for my weapon. 1t
had been in the pocket of my coat-in
the pocket next to the beautiful lady.
"Here it is" came her sweet voice.
81 looked toward her, and to my utter
amazement and horror, there she stood,
between me and the coach door, with
my pistol, which she had skillfully ex-
tracted from mypocket, pointed straight
toward my heart.
"Hand over the money!" continued
the silvery voice, cor you + q dead
man."
Here was q terrible-a sudden cure for
my foolish conceit.
l understood all now.
The disguised man and the woman
were not strangers to each other; they
were probably husband and wife, part
ners in crime, belonging to the gang of
burglars which had lately infested many
parts of the State.
Between ''two fires" as ii were, with
a pistol pointed at me on each side-mv
retreat by way of the coach door cut off
will not deny that / was much
alarmed. For an instant it seemed as If
the courage which l had expected would
support me under any circumstances,
was about to desert me.
BY a strong exertion of the will, how
ever, | recovered my self-possession.
The money-the ten thousand dollars
had been. intrusted to my care-it was
not mine, and l resolved that I would
not surrender it.
| drew forth my W wallet, which, as
L have stated, was like the one contain
ing my uncle's cash.
Here" l stammered, pretending to
be more terrified than / really was,
''here is the money!"
"We will see about that said the
man. "Keep him covered with the pis-
tol, while l look at this"
Hetook the pocketbook from me, and
proceeded to examine it, while the
woman still kept the muzzle of the pis-
tol pointed towards me, with her finger
on the trigger.
CHOW or never" I thought.
With one loud shout to the driver of
the vehicle for help, 1 sprang upon the
man and clutched him with both hands
by the throat.
was strong and supple for my age,
and my unexpected assault bore my ad-
versary back upon the seat.
Instantly he pulled forth his pistol,
which he had put in his pocket before
opening the wallet, and 1 felt the hard
muzzle pressed against my side.
Letting my left hand slide down from
his throat / dashed my fist against the
weapon, which was discharged at the
same moment, the bullet passing
through the bottom of the stage. Q
"Fire, Bess! Shoot him dead!" yelled
the burglar, as we fell upon the floor in
a desperate struggle.
But as / had anticipated would be the
case, Bess lowered near us, afraid to
fire while we were so closely entwined
together lest she mighthit her husband.
Striking at each other we still fought,
each vainly striving to get uppermost.
In he struggle the white whiskers
and hair of the villain came of, reveal
ing to my gaze the strongly-marked
face of a middle-aged man, who [ re-
cognized as a person who had come into
my uncle's store a few days before and
made some triiling purchases. I had
afterwards seen this same person. who
was a stranger, conversing with our
servant in the street. The fact had not
excited my suspicious at the time. as
strangers often came to our store to buy
goods. Now, however, 1 felt sure
that this man had contriyed to CLEAN
from the servant enough information
about my relatives pecuniary affairs to
comprehend that there was a certain
large sum of money in our house, and
that my uncle intended to send it to a
bank.
The rest was plain enough. The ras-
cal had evidently seen me leave the
house on my journey, had suspected
the cause, and had tracked me with the
intention Of robbing me.
For some minutes it was hard to tell
which of us would get the best of the
struggle there on the floor of the stage.
At last, by a quick movement, 1 con
trived to get uppermost, and to again
fasten both hands on the burglars
throat.
"Quick, Bess,'S he gasped, in a sti-
fling voice, for I was choking him.
The woman drew nearer, and now,
having a good chance to shoot me, she
pointed the pistol straight at my temple.
l closed my eyes, With a shudder, and
prepared for death.
l believed my time was come.
But, just then there was a shoct, fol.
lowed by a shrek from the robbers
wife, and, opening my eyes. I per
ceived that the stage-driver had entered
just in time to snatch the pistolfrom her
grasp just as she was about to fire.
"Let him up, sir; we have him fast
enough now!' said the driver as he
pointed the pistol at the burglar.
l released my hold Of the PROSTATE
man.
..Run Ress RIM fo,. 1-o,,r 1;fop, h.