The great West. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1889-18??, 1891-12-18

peared at the door. acknowledgements
him by the head and shaking him
roughly, said: Nov. you black whelp.
! will give you just twenty minutes to
cook supper for six of us"
The black looked at MCGEE and said
in an appealing way, ..Massa Bill dis
amt no way for deses yer miners to
treat dis chile" Miners be hanged"
roared the Captain. shaking Bob till
his teeth chartered. I'VE are no
miners. am Long Tom Did you
ever hear of him?" The poor fellow
rolled his eyes up and cried in trem-
ulous voice: For de love of God. mas
sa don't hurt me; has no money"
The whole band laughed at the dis
may OF the darkey. but the captain
gave him shove inside the door and
cried harshly: Get that supper at
once, or we will have your black hide. y
Turning to US he said with an oath:
You keep where you are and don't
move or you will hear the bark of
this" tapping his revolver in a sig
nifcant manner. In short time Bob
called them to their meal, and the cap
tain, two Mexicans and one whom l
took to be a foreigner. went to the
dining room. leaving us under the
guard of the oldish man and COM
panion. who. I think, was also a for
eigner. When the door was closed
the old man said: boys, you are in
danger; the captain is half drunk to-
day and as ugly as old nick"
What shall we do?' I asked will
you help us to escaped"
He shook his head and replied:
mo, no. but you keep quiet and
don't move, for Tom is ready to kill
you in a moment.
This hint probably saved our lives,
for several times during the evening
the tall captain turned toward us and
glared in the most fendish manner, as
though the slightest pretext would
answer his purpose. After supper the
outlaws gathered around the table and
upon this they piled the gold they had
stolen and then sat down to gamble
for it. Several bottles of liquor soon
inhamed their passions and at the end
of two or three hours they were ex-
ceedingly quarrelsome. Twice the
captain interfered to settle disputes,
but at length one accused another Of
cheating him. In a moment the lie
was passed and both men sprang to
their feet and attacked each other with
murderous knives. We saw these
knives bright and cleaning one Sec
ond and the next they were dripping
with each others blood.
The other robbers jumped up and
tried to interfere but both men were
so maddened with drink and rage that
neither would listen to reason and
swore they would kill any one who
touched them. A moment later one
fell stabbed through the heart. This
so enraged his countryman that he
drew his pistol and wounded the one
who struck the fatal blow. '.Hold!"
cried the captain, springing between
them. there has been enough Of
this at The same time catching the
shooter with the grip Of a giant The
eyes of the former glared like those of
wild beast and instead OF complying
he raised his pistol and shot the leader
through the body. What " cried the
captain, 'you imp of satan, fire at
me?" and with this he clutched the
man by the throat and forced him to
the floor. where he slowly strangled
him to death.
We could hear the under man gasp
ing for breath, hear his groans and
witness the frightful contortions of his
limbs, but were powerless to interfere,
and the members of the band yet left
uninjured seemed stupefed by fear or
by their excessive drinking. While
the captain and the other men were
engaged in this deadly struggle and
the eyes of all in the room were fixed
upon them heard slight tapping at
the little window behind us and leaned
back 80 as to bring my ear close to the
sill. ''Massa Whiting" said the voice
Of Bob, the colored cook, Il has a
pistol; does yer want it?" Without
turning my head I reached back. and
Bob raised the window a little and
passed to me a navy revolver, loaded
and capped for instant use.
whispered to my companions:
Nov is our time; jump for your
weapons. They instantly made a
dash for the corner of the room, where
their pistols lay on a box with mine.
As they darted forward / cooked the
revolver held, intending to cover the
old man and the other guard and pre-
vent them from shooting. The click
of the weapon was, however heard
by the captain, and bounding to his
feet he drew his weapon with light
ning-like quickness and fired at my
friends. I was too quick for him,
however, and shot just as he sprang
to his feet inflicting wound that was
not fatal yet severe enough to prevent
his taking accurate aim. By this time
Bill and Morley had grasped their pis-
tolls, and for the next two minutes the
firing was so rapid in the little room
that one could not count the shots.
The revolvers were speedily emptied.
and then we all rushed forward and
attacked the bandits.
The old man was the only one not
y