The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1892-12-13

much money passin between the two
towns and that line had never bin in
terfered with.
"Howsoever, thar is allus a fust
time, and it cum to me about five
miles out of Eureka, The HOSES war
Joggin' along as contented as you please,
and I was holdin' the lines and thinkin'
Of that gal I've been harnessed to since,
when | gifts a su lden lift. A cuss who
didn't know beans about the bizness
had taken it into his noddIe to turn
road agent, and this was his fust hold
up. Instead of steppin' out like a
gentleman and givin' me a chance to
hold up in decent fashion, he puts a
bullet into this right shoulder afore he
shows, hisself, and then begins to
whoop and dance up and down the
road, The bosses was fur runnin'
away, but I finally got 'em pulled
down and waited fur the idiot to cum
up. He was white about the gills and
a good deal more skeert than I was till
told him I had only one passenger and
that a gal. Then he begins to brace
up and let on he's a terror from way
back. No respectable robber would hev
thought of plunderin' a woman, but
that cuss was low down and probably
hard up. He walked up to the door,
a gun in each hand, and ordered her to
step down."
And you couldn't i~nterfere77 1
asked.
Z" I wasn't heeled with a shooter, and
bein' as he had put a ball into me and
I vas bleedin' like a stuck pig, and
hevin' trouble with the bosses, I didn't
want any more bizness on hand jest
then. [ know'd he'd skeer the gal half
to death and wouldn' git over five dol
lars in cash, but I couldn't help it. He
had his hand on the door to open it
when she fired a pistol in his face.
She had one, it turned out, and she
had the pluck to pull the trigger, but
it were a great surprise to me when l
heard the report and the yell which
fOilered. The bullet hit the Teller in
the side of the nose, about half way up,
and the pistol was held so clos that his
eyes vas bowed full of powder. He
dropped his gun and staggered back
with his hands to his face, and that
little gal leaned out Of the winder and
says to me as sweet as pie:
"'Driver, will you have the kind
ness to drive on?"
II had that very kindness, you bet
yer life, fur didn't know how bad the
Teller was hurt and I didn't want any
more of his lead. I run the HOSES into
Eureka and the gal hoped outer the
coach and kissed her as clipper as you
please. reckoned to find her all up
sot with Mysteries, but she wasn't that
sort. She says to me, lays she:-
"'Driver, I guess you and the Sheriff
kin gobble that chap if you'll hurry
back, fur I know the powder blinded
him."
"Six of us drove back thar in the
coach, The feller's two guns was lynn
in the road whar he dropped 'em and
we found him in the brush a few rods
off. He wasn't built fur no road agent.
He was whimperin' like a boy, and as
as he heard us he began Begin
that we wouldn't hurt him. He's in
State prison, too, and I saw him only
a week ago. He didn't quite lose his
sight, but he can't only jest tell the
difference between a king and a jack
in broad daylight.
"And what became of the girl9"
"The gala Oh, she got married in
about a year, of course. Jest went
and threw herself away on a Teller as
didn't know plums. I was never more
disappointed in my life than I was
when l heard of it. Why, if I'd seen
him among a drove of jack rabbits 1
wouldn't have wasted a load on himI"
"Ranchman, was he9"
"Ranchman! mol He was what
they calls a professor, and the gals
mother like to hev cried herself to
death over itI"-NeaU York Herald.
ON THE LAWYERS.