News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1892-05-26

ly till jes' long bout hyar. Thel
Mac says Ben, b'lieve they s SOM
cusses layin' fur us up b. them rock
I think | seen a feller's head les
now Sez /: Mac, y're full o. hop
| seen it, too, an 'twan't t nothin' but
a hawk crossin' the road
" | stirred up the critters a bit
howsomever, but ies'z we turned tn
rocks somebody jumps out fr'm botI
sides an halls tn leaders, an they
was so many guns starin' intuh my
face th't it made me ashamed O. my.
self. Mac cut loose wi tn sawed-ofi
shotgun, and then began wi tn Win
chister, gettin' two fellers an skinnin'
up some more-but they was too dern
many of EN-, an they cd shoot, too,
so Mac he never got no chance t.
pump that gun dry. He oughtn't t
hev shot nOhOw, but he allus was a
nervy cuss-more nerve'n sense.
] Gsetuh say, Mac"
naill dozen dustSLaAiQ.ES~
| the roadside-the big cowboy Who
got aboard early in the afternoon
and has been doing and swearing in
a sleepy way about the dust is sud-
denly wide awake, and we on the in
side get good look at the muzzles
of his two big revolvers-we hear Ben
| calculate: "Wal, this do beat thun-
| der-and then we are invited to get
down into the road, where the pleas
ant-faced boyish-looking young man,
who got on back at Alpena, proceeds
to business, and politely, courteously
but firmly withal, relieves us of our
spare change-and more, too.
This is my part of the story. OF
course there were quite q number of
other people present including the
youthful highwayman and his capa-
bic assistants, and they also have a
claim on the above narrative. | did
not mean that owned it what tried
to say was that it is the only one of
the events from which come this vera
cious tale that took part in, and |
think it has been shown that my part
was entirely a passive one. Perhaps
we had better call that portion of the
story the gentlemanly road agents,
because he got about everything else
there was to get. The rest is Halle
gan's.
Hallegan and | were travelling to-
gether, and it was his foresight-or,
rather, an odd notion of his-that
enabled us to resume our Journey to
Denver after the road agent incident
This odd notion was in the form of
thin chamois insole, which he wore in
his left boot, and which, in addition
to card giving directions for the
disposition of his body in case he
should suddenly be called hence while
among strangers, contained a fifty
dollar bill. 1t was an ordinary fifty
dollar bill, but when Terrence flashed
it before my dazzled eyes in the Hotel
Merrill that night | was quite sure
that it was larger and more valuable
than the opinions of n New England
hired man. 1t took us to Leadville,
anyway, and that was all we could
reasonably desire.
But for the rest of my story:
1t was about two years after the
road agent affair, in which we lost
almost everything but our good
names and the clothing we wore
when, one day, | was thunderstruck
to receive Hallegan's wedding cards.
1t was the first time had heard from
him for year, and had any one else
told me Terrence Hallegan was a
marrying man | should have derided
him; but when Terrence himself, in
his own peculiar chirography, direct
ed to me an envelope containing such
startling news, all set forth in the
highest style of the engraver's art
well, it was too much, and | went
down into the camp, where surcease
of sorrow was Obtainable in quanti-
ties to suit the purchaser and when
there was full score of TeTrence's
friends and acquaintances to toast
his memory and console with each
other. And grief was our lot, until
the day Jewett 'struck it in that
hole he had been pegging away at,
over on the other side of the gulch,
and excitement reigned supreme. In
the midst of the confusion kilograms
came and went, tiying-brought and
sent by special courier to and from
the office at sunrise, nine miles away;
and, one day, came one for him who
sits here burning nocturnal kerosene.
1t was from Hallegan, who was now
living in Chicago, and summoned me
to hasten to that city, where | was
needed to assist in closing transac-
ton involving the sale of some min
ing property in which Terrence and L
were interested.
Terrence met me at the station. He
looked remarkably well, even for a
person whose health and spirits had
always been of the very best, and |
told him so, adding that in depon-
ent's opinion he must have drawn a
capital prize in the matrimonial lot
terry
He smiled happily, and took my
arm to walk outside the train inclos-
ure, as he said:
"That / did-that | did, my boy,
just wait till you see her, and you'll
be sure of it,"
He called a cab, giving the driver
some brief instructions, and leaped in
after me. We rode several minutes
in silence; then Hallegan turned to
me in rather embarrassed way, and
said, in a strained tone:
"Billy, my boy-it's very near din
ner time at our house-and there's
no time for-eXplanations. Only-if
you think you've seen-my wife-if