The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1892-04-22
FOR YELLOW GOLD.

passenger. What was more to the point,
as the Gold Butte Mining Company re-
garded 1t, was that under the drivers seat
was box with $4,000 in the newest OF
new tens and twenties in 1t.
The driver had looked very blue when
he drove his four mustangs from the
post ofiice-where he took on very hat
leather bag, which spoke loudly OF the
incapacity or disinclination Of the Thin
BILE Spring people for letter writing-over
to the railroad station, where he was to
take on the box. Things were going all
wrong at home. That was why his brown
face locked so haggard; that was why he
held 30 loosely to the "lines;" that was
why he chewed so hard on the bit OF
"plug " In his mouth.
"Such hard scratchin' I never seed
afore," was what he had said as he had
listlessly thrown the mail bag into the
wagon; "can't git no decent job nova
days. Nothin' ter be he'd by prospectin'-
tried thet time an agin; eff git anything
1t peters out inside of a week. / might
make q strike over ter Sand Gulch, but
it's derned long way off, an me m Sue
and 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 that
rheumatic jez now, when wes so hard up,
an afore she weaned the baby? Why can't
Bill git somethin' ter do?-great, big,
lunk- headed cuss. Ell he'd a 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 house? Sho, Zach
Springer, you're blamed fool. Bill hain't
done that. He amt ter blame fer gittin'
his leg broke that time. Bills all right,
but he's onlucky. Been tryin' fur month
ter git job an can't cit in nowhere.
He's willin' ter work"
And then the box was taken on, and the
express agent had 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 an unneces-
sary yanking of the reins. 1t was posi-
tive relief to be able at last to whack his
lash down upon the sides of the nervous
brutes and turn them loose for the forty
mile run to Gold Butte. Why had he
needed q lecture from a hireling OF the
express company, and why should that
smooth jowled agent have looked at him
with such dark suspicionY
"They think COS got stood up down
ter Black Rocks las time had big load
o. gold, thetI need to be preached to every
time go out now with full box. The
stopped shouldered, desk settin' houndsi
I'd like ter see one on 'em handlin' the
ribbons when thar's a Winchester look
in at 'em with an eye as big as a bar'l
head. Can't tell me they wouldn't give
in! The sweet scented, calf-skin booted
young ladiesl Thar amt q man among
'em."
Zach Springer's 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 his true sentiments
with reference to the express agents
lecture. In between the words ran the
thought that "they" had suspected him
of having hand in the Black Rocks rob-
berry. Had that been the reason the stage
company had cut down his pay to "sixty"
a month? The chances were that it was.
1t was too blamed mean for a lot of swine,
like these people, to come it so high
handedly over q poor man who only
wanted his own. Wouldn't it serve them
Just right if
The white dust of the desert rolled up
from the mustangs hoofs in little puffs,
and sprays of it, powdered fine, followed
the turn of the wheels half way up, there
to be caught by the breeze and drifted
behind in long cloud that followed the
blackboard like haunting spirit. Some
times, as the light breeze shifted, it came
back upon the blackboard and its driver
like heavy thoughts On the conscience Of
Q guilty man.
It would serve them just righti Be-
sides that, only think-ten thousandl
YLoA kx.v Ia IA,.v .,~
or Guatemala, where he would fly, know
or care il somebody up in far of Nevada
had dumped q box off his blackboard and
maybe a week?
And the thought stuck to him, despite
all attempts to keep it off, though by the
time he had driven the mustangs into
Red Canyon, his Indignation at having
been suspected by the company had died
down. Tho box at his feet had taken on
Q new meaning for him. 1t meant smart
gowns for his wife. 1t meant a good
schooling for the children. Resolving the
whole matter down to a plain, clear cut
proposition, it was, after all, simply a
question of nerve"
Here was the place to do it. Right here,
where the high, scraggy rocks, with the
patches of sage brush atop, came SO near
to the blackboard. 1t could be thrown
over there anywhere = into the sage
brush. 1t would be as well concealed as
though buried in six feet of earth. The
buck board had reached the top of long
down grade. Zach put on the brake and
twisted the reins about the brake handle.
As IL about to take plunge into ice cold
water, he reached down for the box.
But wait a bit. He took off his big
sombrero and hung it on a pro-
jecting rock. Then flashing out his
six shooter, he sent a bullet through
the brim of the hat, which he then re-
placed on his head. Though It had been
hot enough when he started out from
Thimble Spring, there seemed TO be chill
in the air just now. Would they believe
the story that he would have to concoct,
even though he showed them the hole In
the at-brim? What would he care
whether they did or not? They already
suspected him. II he had the name he
might as we'll have the game. He looked
at spot where the sage brush clustered
thickest and made a mental throw or two
in tentative way in order to get the