The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-04-24
FOR YELLOW GOLD.



When the stage "went light" they ran
out the small blackboard; but when there
were more than four passengers, the big
nud.wagon was ''put on" This was a
blackboard day, for there was not a single
messenger. What was more to the point, as
the Gold Butte Mining Company regarded
IL. was that under the drivers seat was box
with $4,000 in the newest Of tens and twen-
ties in it.
The driver had looked very blue when he
drove bis four mustangs from the post
ofice-where he took on a very fiat leather
bag, which spoke loudly Of the incapacity
or dissemination of the Thimble Spring
people for letter writing-over to the rail-
road station. where he was TO take on the
box. Things were going all wrong at home.
That was why his brown face looked 50
hagsard: that vas why he held so loosely
TO the 'lines :" that was why he ohewed so
hard on the bit Of plug in his mouth.
''Such hard scratchin' never seed afore,
was what he had said as he had listlessly
thrown the mailbag into the wagon; can't
Git no decent Job nowadays. Nothin' ter be
he'd by prospectin'-tried tibet time an
ag'in; Of git anything, it peters out inside
of a week | might take a strike over ter
Sand Gulch, but it's a derned long way off,
an me N Sue an the kids hez moved so
often at we can't raise nothin' ter move on
now. Why in Sam Hill did Sue hev ter git
tibet rheumatic jes now, when we's SO hard
up. an afore she weaned the
baby? It's - shame. Why can't
Bill git somethin' ter doi-great. big. lunk-
headed cusS. Ef l he'd brother, poorer n
a crow, dye think I'd go an live on him,
an live on him, till thar warn't nuthin' ter
eat in the houseG Sho, Zach Springer,
you're blamed fool. Bill hain't done that.
He ain't ter blame fer gittil his leg broke
that time. Bill's all right, but he's onlucky:
Been tryin' fur month ter git job, an
can't git in nowhere He's willin ter work
He'd STAN crotch-deep in the creek all day
long washin' out tailin's, eff he could make
his salt at it. Tried it fer six weeks an
didn't git enough ter buy pair o. gum
boots. Whoa, Buckskin! He'd jam right
inter the station platform OF yer didn't saw
his teeth eout."
And then the box was taken on, and the
express agent bad something to say. That
something" was not TO Zach Springer's
liking He chewed harder than ever on
the bit of plug and sawed the hard mouths
of the mustangs by au unnecessary yankiDR
of the reins. 1t was positive relief to be
able at last to whack his lash down upon
the sides Of the nervous brutes and turn
them loose for a 40-mile run to Gold Butte.
Why had he needed lecture from a hire
ling of the express company, and why
should that smooth jowled agent have
looked at him with such dark suspicionl
"They think COS got stood up down ter
Black Rocks las time nd big load o.
gold tibet need TO be preached to every
time go out now with full box. Stoop-
shouldered, desk-settin' houndsl I'd like ter
see one on 'em handlin' the ribbons when
thar's Winchester lookin' at EN- with an
eye as big as bar Ishead. Can't tell me
they wouldn't give in! The sweet-scented,
calf-skin booted young ladiesl Thar amt
q man among EN-"
Zach Springers indignation was now in
more complete possession of him than had
been his feeling of blueness little earlier
What he had delivered himself Of just now
was not what he would have said had he
voiced bis true sentiments with reference to
the express agents lecture. In between the
words ran the thought, that "they" had
suspected him Of having a hand in the
Black Rocks robbery. 1t had come to him
before in what he called "lefthanded"
way, and he had had other outbursts of
righteous indignation, but uone in v lich
the upheaval was 80 great as that of the
present Had that been the reason the
stage company had cut down his paw TO
800" mouthl The chances were that it
was. It was too blamed mean for a lot of
swine, like these people, to come 10 30 high
handedly over poor man who only wanted
his own. Wouldn't it servo them just right
if
The white dust of the desert rolled up
from the mustangs hoofs in little puffs
and sprays OF it, powdery fine. followed the
turn OF the wheels half way up, there to be
caught by the breeze and drifted behind in
d long cloud that followed the blackboard
like haunting spirit. Sometimes, as the
light breeze shifted, it came back upon the
Al.
thoughts on the conscience OF q guilty
man.
1t would serve them just right Besides
that, only think-ten thousand! What
would the people down in Mexico or Gaute-
mela, where he would fly. know or care il
somebody up in far of Nevada had dumped
a box off his blackboard and gone back and
got il after few days-maybe week. 1t
would have to be a dark night wouldn't itl
You couldn't go and get box like that in
the daytime and take it anywhere for the
whole country would be out looking for the
man who had it. Maybe a month. That
would be better. It would all blow over by
that time. Let's see, would i'll Ten thou~
sand was a good deal Those stage-stoppers
was always striking the box on the wrong
day. They never got so much as that az one
haul. In two months, then-perhaps two
months. But it would have to be well hid
den.
And the thought stuck TO him, despite all
attempts to keep it of, though by the time
he had driven the mustangs into Red
canyoH, his indignation ct having been sus-
pected by the company had died down. Tbs
box at his feet had taken on a new meaning
for him. 1t meant smart gowns for the
wife. II meant good schooling for the
children. Those five little ones mad had a
hard 'rustle" of it to get what few scraps
of learning they had thus far managed to
clutch; and, as for clothes, they were
dressed like Juvenile scarecrows. Yes, all
the hard scratching would be over II he
dared 10 do what many another hard
pushed man had done. Resolving the whole
matter down to a plain, clear-cut propo-
sftion, il was, after ell. simply question OF
%nsrva1
Here was the place to do It. Right here,
where the high, scraggly rocks. with the
patches Of sage brush atop, came 30 near "a
the blackboard. 1t could be thrown over
fhere-any where-into the sage brush. It
wonld be as well concealed as though buried
six feet Of earth. The blackboard had
reached the top Of long down grade. Zact
put on the brake and twisted the reini
about the brake handle. AS IL about &c
take plunge into ice-cold water, ht
reached down for the box. But wait bi t
HestUuk off his big sombrero and hung il
ona projecting rock. Then flashing ou
his 6-ahooter, he sent q bullet through