Lyon County times. [volume] (Silver City, Nev.) 1874-1907, 1893-10-07

Don't worry, mother" he returned,
good naturedly; "nobody's going to get
hurt. We shall use our revolvers just
to make them stand quiet and be hand
cuffed. that's all. don't suppose there
are more than two Of them, or three at
! the outside. And we shall be match
| for any three men in this county-eh.
FrankY
who shall go and lay the bait in the
villageY' inquired.
Henry has the best gift Of the gab,"
replied John, land can go with him. in
case any loud talking should be neces-
sary. We can give them good dose
| between u.s."
''It is my opinion that there ought to
be no untruth," mother declared. I'VE
should not do wrong that good may come
of it. Nothing can justify falsehood,
and to deceive even burglar is to bring
yourself down to his level"
"Bless your dear soul" chuckled
Henry. II should like to be the one ras-
cal in a world made up Of people like
you! But you needn't be anxious, moth
er. We are going to camp out, sure
enough, as soon as we have provided our
burglars with safe lodging. There may
creep in some trifing ambiguity about
| the date, but tbs not in mortal man to
avoid all error. even in burglar huntT
We chatted over the matter till late
in the evening, examining it from all
points of view and perfecting the details
of the scheme. Mother dropped asleep
after awhile in the midst of formulating
some moral criticism. but Sinfire was as
wide awake as an angel, and her eyes
| had gleam in them which if not angelic
was at least demonic. and she was more
fertile in ideas than any of us. She SEEM
ed to hold the whole scene in all its COM
plexities before her. noting any imper
fections in the plan and Immediately pro-
viding remedies for them. My expert
ence, certainly. has never brought me in
contact with a woman's mind SO bril-
liant, original and replete with resources.
1t was strange to think of us three sitting
there with her, each of us regarding her
so differently and yet all united in one
thing.
Only she and l, however, commanded
/ the entire situation-only we knew the
/ inner secrets-but the talk never touched
on or turned toward the hidden things.
! We spoke on the surface and of it,
confess, too. that / do not altogether
comprehend why her interest in this
/ affair should be so intense. What bear
ing can she suppose it to have on her
fate? Probably it merely relieves the
strain of other thoughts. Indeed l can
not otherwise account for my own alb
sorption in it. AS for Henry, it amuses
him, and he may have other motives;
there is no telling. He may intend to
captivate Sinfire by some deed of valor.
John is the only unimpeachably sincere
one among us. He wants to capture the
burglars, and that Is all. 1t will be q
clever thing to do, and he has the tenn
perament to enjoy it.
The next day we began to put our
scheme in operation. Tom drove John
and Henry in the farm wagon. had
intended going with them, but some
singular twinges in my right leg from
the knee to the foot prevented me. /
thought ! must have rheumatism and
deemed it best, in view of the coming
adventure, to run no risks. Tom has
not yet been admitted to knowledge of
the whole of the mystery. He believes
that we are actually going to the lake on
Friday evening, and this persuasion Of
his will greatly increase the spread of
the delusion among those whom we wish
to reach AMI will also obviate any pos
sible indiscgetion on Toms part, for
there is no telling but the one particular
and confidential crony to whom alone he
would venture to confde the great secret
might turn out to be the very individual
to whom it would be of the utmost pos
sible use. In times like these your near
est friend may be your deadliest enemy.
So it behooves to keep your eyes open.
Off they went and in due time came
back, having fully succeeded in their OBJ
ject, at least so far as filling the neigh
borhood with news of our proposed ex-
pedition was concerned. They had also
loaded themselves down with sardines,
bologna sausage, smoked beef, canned
soup, hardtack and all other such mis-
cellany as amateur pioneers are supposed
to want. We could have Jared sumptu-
ously in the wilderness for a month on
the supplies laid in for a single "a hours.
To be sure, most of the things would be
as good next year as they We're now, and
this was probably not their first year
eissfer.
""The army's stores are ample" said
Henry at last after we had all been talk
ing and laughing together for awhile,
"but how about the armory and the drilli
Which of the warriors here present can
perforate green turtle soup can at 20
paces?"
The challenge was received with ac-
clamations. We all went out on the
grass plot at the side of the house toward
the knoll. and Henry drove two torked
stakes into the ground at the foot of the
activity and close together, laid the soup
can in their crotch in such way that its
circular end was presented toward us at
height of 8 feet above the ground, then
measured off 90 PAGES, and we all took
our places, Sinfire standing by to ad.
judge and award the prize-an oriental