The Bottineau pioneer. (Bottineau, N.D.) 1885-1895, 1888-02-02
AND PRISONER.

The freedom and interest of their
conversation did not seem to be
damped by the fact that the younger
OF tie two carried a revolver, while
his companion wore a pair Of those
uncoveted articles of jewelry which
are known in criminal circles g. ''brace-
let's"
The few passengers who had oh.
served them learned from the conf
Dental brakeman that they were a
noted detective and his prisoner on
the way to trial. AS far rs ages went,
the pair might have been taken for
father and son, the fine gray head OF
the one contrasting strongly with the
crisp brown curls Of his captor. 81
What crime had been committed,
the brakeman did not know, but haz-
arded a. conjecture that it 'must have
been g pretty bad one or George Nun.
son wouldn't have took the trouble
to put them things on his wrists"
Presently the brakeman and the
conductor satisfied the joint demands
of etiquette and curiosity by stopping
to. exchange. a few words with the de-
t~ective; the former.then perched him.
self upon the coal-box directly behind
the prisoner, and the latter dropped
magnificently into the seat in front.
The train was sweeping around g.
curve and past a ruined trestle on the
hillside at which both of the passen-
gers looked with some interest.
II remember that place." said the
older man.
$50 do l." responded the younger;
ri was born there. Came near being
buried there, too," he resumed after
a moments pause.
GLOW was that?" &C
otis q pretty long story" said the
detective, "but I guess we'll have time
for it between this and the next
station. Way up there on the slope
is the little settlement where I made
my debut, so to speak; from it to the
bottom of the hill there used to be a.
gravity road-a long, winding track
reaching from the settlement down to
the top of a blank wall of earth where
a slide occurred the year I was born:
On both sides on the track grew sap
lings that had sprung up since the dis
aster what ! am Yelling you happen.
ed five yearsslater) and they crowded
the road and hung over the old rusty
rails on which the coal cars used to
run. You must remember that the
houses were built near the mouth OF
the pit-that was one OF the first
mines worked in that country, and
one of the first to be abandoned.
Time ! am telling about, some men
were walking up track, and a lot of
children playing near the top, little
dev's, climbing in and out of an old
car which had lain there since it made
it's last trip, with the broken spraggs
still in it's wheels.
1.-THE men were miners, all but one OF
them, who questioned his companions
about their work and the country
they lived in. He was evidently O.
stranger-probably a newspaper man.
Presently, as they talked, a shout
from the top OF the slope attracted
their attention and they looked up
just in time to see. the car begin to
move slowly down the grade.
=''There was, an impatient exclama-
tion from the oldestman in the party.
Them brats is always up to some
mischief he said. They have started
that old thing off at last; I've been
expectin' to see it 60 any time this FIVE
year. They'll be- breaking their
necks yet with their tomfool-
ing And another of the group
added: I'VE must dust out Of this
lively, unless we want to get our own.
necks broke; she'll either jump the
rail or go to pieces at the bottom;
lucky there amt no one aboard Of
her.
1.-The stranger was looking anxious
sly up at the approaching runaway.
His quick eye had caught sight Of
something round and golden above
the black rim.
There's child in that car he
said, quietly.
1T was 8 second or two before his
companions realized the awful mean
ing Of that statement. "a child That.
was, as if he had said that in q few
moments some one-perhaps one OF
themselves-would be childless.
with one impulse they turned to
look ut the broken rails by the edge
Of the fault: Shuddering, they fixed
their eyesragain on the approaching
mass, then hopelessly on each other.
They.could not dream OF stopping the,
progress Of the car. But quick as
thought almost, the stranger took
hold OF q sapling and bent it down till
it nearly touched the track. Hold it,
he said, to one OF the men; it viii help
to check her. A rod further down an
other and then q third and fourth
were held in the same way.
So four Of the party waited
for q few breathless seconds,
while the two remaining ones hurried
further down: but one more effort:
and the car was upon them. The first