The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1884-11-12

turned on me from the hail oper
door of the cabin. and would stant
and glover till I'd passed on ant
out of sight
But as l was saying, ! got up in
to the spur of the mountains with
out any serious trouble, though
found the trail very rough and stony
lWell. l hadn't travelled these hill.
more than tweniy-four hours wher
my horse became lame, and l founG
| must go into camp at least for {
day.
$50 / halted about ten o'clock the
second morning. on the side of &
steep mountain, in deep pocket
where there was clear spring gush.
ling out of the rocks and running
down into the valley below. stay.
ed there all that day, and doctored
nv horse with some liniment that
carried.
"But old Begums, as l called him
did not get much better, and SO the
next day i still remained in camp
During that time l did not see hu.
man being and had no idea that
anybody in that region had noticed
or thought of me. But just about
/ an hou. before sun down | heard
the clatter of hoofs below on the trail
and moment after up galloped five
big mountaineers, dashing recklessly
against my wagon.
Gentlemen, / was scared the mo-
ment | saw them, and | was very
much more frightened when the two
leaders drew their pistols, and, with
out another word yelled
! Hands upl Hands upr'
"All right" said 1; and lifted
them meekly as you please.
Were goin' through your wagon,
said big. whiskered fellow, who
seemed 20 be the leader of the gang
Very well said /. You'll find
a gunny sack full of twenty dollar
gold pieces, two chests of silver and
three hundred thousand in Govern
ment bonds"
| THAT pleased them and they
laughed as though they enjoyed the
joke.
I'VE amt on the scoop, stranger"
said the big one. ''It's you we're
lookin' after"
II reckon, answered, rather dry
like. go ahead, gentlemen you'll
find the evidences of my profession
and of my honesty in that wagon
"All this time the captain and one
of his mates sat in their saddles,
pointing their six-shooters at me,
while the rest of The gang got of,
tied their horses, disarmed me of
my only weapon, a Colt pistol, and
then began rummaging my wagon.
"They seemed rather surprised at
the things they turned out.
"On the wrong scent this time.
He's a peddler feller, ! reckon, said
one of them.
II began to feel easier. But pres
emily they drew out small wooden
chest that contained some of my
most valuable conjuring apparatus,
and burst it open. They rummaged
minute, then seized something he
saw and pulled it out with an oath.
Then he turned to me with his face
white with rage and shook in my
face, two pairs of hand cuffs and
pair of ankle-irons that had been
slowed away in the very bottom of
the box.
"You see, I'd bought them with
some other apparatus from show
man two years before, who had CIV
en- up business. The irons locked
with a key, as do the common ones,
but with secret springs in them.
These springs were touched by
bending over the middle finger and
presto they'd open as If they were
bewitched. If a secret spring in the
ankle-irons was also touched they
would spring open also. They were
nothing but trick irons, but they
PLAYED me a sad trick then. These
men took me for revenue detective
at once, and there wasn't any use in
my trying to explain matters.
This is sufficient evidence what
his profession is," yelled the leader.
"All we want now is to hang him to
the next tree. Put his own irons on
him, boys! J"
Il submitted quietly enough, and
in less than five minutes l was sit
ting on the ground, ironed hands
and feet, at word from their leader
all of them but one, who sat on the
log near me, went behind the wagon
and held some sort of a council to-
gether. 1t ended in three of them |
riding off up the trail in the direc-
ton | had come. and the other two
squatted on the log to keep guard |
over me.
"Going to gather a crowd before
they do their hanging" l said to
myself Well. that's better than
expected.
"You see had feared that they
would do their fendish work at
once after they had held their
meeting behind the wagon, and l
hoped now to have chance to show !
them the trick of the irons and 9TH |
er performances.
Il breathed little freezer when |
saw the three ride off, and as soon
as they were out of sight. | COM
menced talking to my guards. They /
weren't inclined to say much at
first, though talked on all sorts of i
subjects in fact, tried to get into
an argument with them, and not
succeeding in that, l told them sto-
ries; but they sat there without
opening their lips, and grinned, and
watched me suspiciously.
Finally / began to boast extrava.
gantly, telling them what l had
done and could do in the way of
tricks and feats OF strength. At this