St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1889-02-14

have reason for believing that he in
dorsed all the others.
What | admire in lovely vim
rnin," said the colonel, as we sat
there quietly smoking. lis the er-the
ability she possesses to adapt herself
to circumstances, asillustrated in the
above. We are all friends herein
course-so we can be comfortable,
but I'm safe in sayin l shall be glad
to git to Leadville. That little mat
Judge, sure the lady can t understand
English-my-in fact, gen 'lemen, my
shirt" said the colonel, frankly
again Indicating the exact location
of the treasure, lis a tax on my
mind, an | want to git it off.
Outside, the snow had ceased fall
ing, and the dusk of winters even
ing was slowly deepening into dark
ness. High up on the slope that rose
on our right stood solitary pine
tree, that had pushed its way
through the rocks, and now stood,
lonesome and sad, by night and day,
keeping a melancholy watch on the
valley. The sun, long since hidden to
us below, shot ray as goodnight
message, and for an instant the tree
was ablaze; then the eight died quick
ly out and we were in semi-darkness
again. The road wound its way
around the face of high cliff; on one
side lowered high wall of rocks
sheer 300 feet; on the other sunk an
unsoundable chasm Tommy sat on
the box, his two lamps lit, and his
| 10,
ment to his whip. Inside, the small
reflector at the end of the coach only
served to make the night without
seem darker than it was. Silently
we sat there smoking, the ends of
our cigars alternately glowing and
dimming in the dingy air. Anunusu-
al volley of oaths from the box, a
cracking of whips, a shouting, and
then the stopping of the coach with
q lurch startled us out of our quiet.
Then a shout from Tom as he spoke
| to his cattle, and a voice, ringing like
n bugle, was heard from the rocks
above:
Come none o that Make a
straight haul for it, d-nyO Throw
| off that box Lively now Put up
your hands an git down! Every one
of you, git down.
SOrrowfully we Obeyed. The de
scription the professor had given,
few hours before, of our probable SEN
sations, was exactly true. A pair of
six-shooters, held in the hands of a
stalwart man, whose face was part
ly concealed by black mask, hast
ened our descent, and in a moment
| Il
with our hands above our heads, a
meek, unhappy, cOwed group. AT
one end of the line stood Tommy,
swearing savagely at his luck at the
other, stood the colonel, cool, impas-
sive, dignifed, confident in the securi-
ty of his treasure. The last to de
scend was the widow, but a widow
no longer, for out of the coach there
sprang an active young fellow, of
slender but sinewy build, smooth
shaver, dressed in the conventional
garb Of a Western rider, and carry
ing in his hand a nickel-plated six
shooter And this was Mrs. Smith
who did not speak English. Any one
standing near the Judge at that time
might have heard an exclamation,
both forcible and profane. The
widow" heard it, for with a little
laugh he Tor she) touched his finger
to his lips, and said:
Hush, Judge! that's cussin', an
you draw the line there, you know"
And then he proceeded to search
the pockets of his fellOw-travellers,
as if it were a very commonplace af-
fair, which it certainly was not, and
= Il l..
associate keeping guard meantime.
Down the line he went, doing his
work quickly but carefully, but be
fore he was done the other began to
grow impatient.
Hurry up, JIM he said amt
you most through? We'relate'
''All done but this one said Jim,
the quondam widow, as he halted
before the colonel; hes got four
thousand dollars sewed plum to his
shirt. | reckon I'll have to rip the
old coon open to git in" Saying
which he drew his knife, and with a
quick movement, as if to disembowel
the colonel, slipped thepoint through
his clothing, and With a wrench pull
ed out the package.
Sorry to trouble you, gents, said
the larger man, bowling politely,
er, fur | know you want to git to
Leadville. l hope this old genie
man. pointing to the rent in the
colonel's dress, won't take cold.
He must be careful-good men are
scarce" The colonel snorted. You
will kindly remain where you are till
| give the word. There is few
friends of mine a-lookin' at us from
them rocks, and | really wouldn't
move very much if | was you'll real
ly wouldn't fur their guns is all hair
triggers an dreadful liable to go off
You won't move, now, will you?"
We would not! Wild horses could
not have dragged us from that spot,
for up in the rocks we fancied we
could see two shining barrels, aimed
truly at us, and we were really anx-
ious to remain quiet. Before we
knew it we were alone, our new ac-
quaintances had vanished in the
dusk, and an instant later we heard |
the same voice, ringing out above
us:
cit into the coach now and git"
And we got.
But we were no longer the cheerful
party we had been. Outside we
could hear Tommy swearing all sorts
of new and exuberant oaths, at him
self, the company, the mules, the
coach, and the road-agents. Inside
not a word was spoken until the
judge, STOPPING down, lifted into
view the black skirt that the former
widow had worn. A sad smile stole