Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1894-12-05

MS haste leaving one OF his cuffs. Th1s
was traced by the laundry mark to San
Francisco and led to his capture. Sto-
ries as to his prowess and the speed and
beauty of his horses are too numerous
to mention. His great virtue, SO the
people said, was his iberality to the
poor, and the fact that he never robbed
from any one but the express company
and the mail. As we threaded the tor
tuous road we could easily imagine
highwayman stepping from behind one
of the enormous trees and calling on
us to ''hold up our hands. -
Coming upon a little spring, we halt
ed awhile to refresh both ourselves and
our horses Here we calculated that we
were distant but eight miles from r.
L. and still had 90 more to 60 before
Id was reached. It being but little
past noon, our ride through L. L.
before dark and reaching Id i'll
good time seemed foregone conclusion.
Nature, however, often upsets the best
of calculations, for scarcely were we
remounted when a heavy shower came
on, softening the road so as to make
slow walk good speed. Our hopes fell
with the rain, which was dismal enough
in the big woods, rendering still darker
a gloomy way To return WAS as far
out of our plan as to continue, the
woods at night being as dark as pock-
ct. Ii must be our abiding place
perforce. We consulted, therefore, as to
the best means to avoid trouble should
the inhabitants feel in sportive mood
It being the middle of the week was
a point in our favor, as there would i'll
all probability be few outsiders in town.
Our first care was Wilson, whose YER
dancy was too apparent to conceal and
would no doubt render him more or less
butt of frontier wit. Bob advised him
to 60 to bed at once on his arrival and
said by way of inducement that he could
then watch our property, which we
would of course be obliged to leave in
our rooms. Wilson was perfectly will
ing to do this, especially after Bob's
graphic description of ''the dancing
act, /" firing revolver under man s feet
to see if they are tender. Our most en-
phatic advice was not to show any mon
ey over that absolutely essential for his
expenses. The rain and mud had suffi-
GENTLY taken the newness from our out
fit, and we thought we could represent
ourselves as going north to work on
some of the big ranches.
1t was near dark when we reached
the town and slowly rode through the
one street on which it was built, look
ing for the best appearing hotel. On
both sides were rows Of hotels, gam
bling houses, barrooms and stores,
sometimes separate, but oftener all COM
bined in one building. With the desire
of getting as far as possible through the
town, we selected the last house on the
road and applied for shelter. The rain
had ceased, and the sky was beginning
to clear We almost regretted that we
had not decided to keep on, but the
horses were too tired to make the idea
feasible. AS we rode through the viii
lage the "stoop population were in
terested enough to comment on the gen.
eral appearance of us and our horses,
but in no way other than common to
all western towns. One remark I re-
member, applying to Wilson: '"That
yellow haired one on the mule is ten
derfoot' took at his chaps. =" Will
son had leggings instead of boots,
We went to stable between the ho-
tel and woods, unsaddled cur horses,
and taking our rifles, etc., went up to
our rooms. Bob and soon went down
to our supper, which was fairly good
for the country. We told the people,
who seemed rough, but pleasant, that
our friend was too tired TO come down
and secured supper for him. Taking
down his dishes, we sauntered into the
barroom and were agreeably disappoint-
ed to find things fitted up as well as
elsewhere along the road. The building
was of a class common in the west, an
oblong two story structure, with piazza
facing the street. Down stairs were the
barroom, kitchen, dining room and
owners living rooms, while the entire
second story was for guests. This was
subdivided by narrow hall running
lengthwise, leaving numerous small
boxes called bedrooms on either side,
one row fronting the piazza and the
street, and the other commanding an
extensive rear view. AS we were about
the only guests, we had rooms in the
front row. The house was upholstered,
and only the lower floor rooms were
ceiled
Bob and I seated ourselves in the bar
room and answered the various ques-
tions commonly asked of travellers and
began to laugh at our fears, although
there were some pretty tough faces
among the auditors.
Our attention was attracted to cow
boy who appeared a stranger, like our
selves, and who volunteered the infor-
nation that be, toe, was goingto Id
in the morning. Although We had al
ways made rule to be charyin talking
to strangers, there was something i'll
his face and manner attractive, and
found myself holding quite an animated
conversation with him. His name was
Dick. This involved an invitation to
drink, which I compromised by the less
of two evils-a western cigar-which /
smoked to the bitter end. had just re-
sumed my good old pipe in order to re-
move the unpleasant taste of friend
ships Offering" when heard door
open and was surprised to see Wilson
come into the room. He said he had
just run down for a moment for some
cigars, and I let him court his fate and
purchase some of the brand had smok-
ed. To my surprise, he offered $50
goldpiece in payment.
This was the keynote to the whole
trouble. The barkeeper, big, burly,
foxy eyed fellow, slid the gold back of
the counter, passed out the cigars and
returned change for only 81. Wilson
told him he had given him $40. The
barkeeper bluntly denied this and pro-
duced silver dollar as the one handed
him and appealed to bystander, who,
of course, confirmed his statement, and,
moreover, challenged any one in the
house to differ. Although many had
seen the transaction, no one objected,
and Wilson, after hesitating moment,
came back to me- In language more en-
phatic than polite told him to go up
to his room. Dick looked surprised, and