The herald., 1894-11-02
i, uon $ Know whether that calls t

The sheriff stood facing him, and
without expressing upon his face a
shadow of his thoughts replied calmly:
"I'm inclined to the opinion, Joe, that
it'll be an official call when make it,
but there's no rush. Keep your seat for
the present, and don't get nervous, and
don't try to run any bluffs. F"
The gambler arose, white with rage,
and shaking the long, slender index fin
ger Of his left hand under tho nose of
the sheriff, while his right rested firmly
on the handle of his six shooter, s.ss.
angrily:
81 demand that whatever accusation
you choose to make against me shall be
made directly. I'll have none of your
insinuations"
Itwould have been very embarrassing
for tho sheriff to be obliged to explain
| his suspicious at that minute. He had
by some power of intuition connected
Poker Joe with the strange girl, and
Immediately upon forming this sus-
picion his impressionable mind reverted
to tho Denver tragedy. 1t would have
taxed the skill of an intellectual acrobat
to reason, .pcc the mere suspicion of
Poker Joe's relation to the girl, that he
was in any manner connected with the
murder But Sheriff Smith was not
reasoning; he was merely acting upon
the impression that there was something
unusual affecting the gambler. And this
suspicion of an unusual affection of
Poker Joe's mind impressed the sheriff
Al ~
guilty of some crime or misdemeanor.
He was about to express this opinion,
but he was happily prevented, not by
the belligerent attitude of Poker Joe,
but through the more exciting incident
of the arrival at that moment of Miles,
the pony mail and express man, from
Silverton. Badly frozen and exhausted
almost beyond the power of speech, he
dropped into the most convenient chair
and feebly demanded a drink of whisky.
After drinking the liquor he reused
little and stared vacantly about the
room until his eyes rested upon the poor
waif lying on the pool table.
praise God!" he exclaimed and re-
lapsod into mental condition so annoy
ing to those who stood about eager for
some knowledge of the girl, which they
felt he possessed, that the barkeeper
suggested another drink, which Miles
accepted without the slightest acknowl-
edgment of the courtesy.
By and by he was sufficiently aroused
to be able to swallow third dram of
whisky and relate thrilling tale of
his trip from Silverton with the girl.
He told how he had lost the poor child
within a mile of Lake City, and after
ward found her horse, and then pushed
on through the storm to get aid in
searching for her. After submitting to
round of abuse by tho company for
undertaking to conduct the girl across
the mountains in the face of the storm,
which, they declared, must have been
more severe at the Silverton end of the
road, Miles begged permission to ex-
plain. 1t was reluctantly granted.
"Tho gal got q telegram from Den
yer to come home right away" he said.
-" 'nd'5 tn Silverton branch O. tn Rio
Grande is bloclzaded at Durango her
aunt. what tn gal wus visitin at Sill
verton, begged me so hard to fetch her
over hero md send her out by stage tc
tn station on tn main limo at l
couldn't refuse nohow. Yesee," he fall
tered, glancing pityingly at the sleeping
girl, Eye see, the gals mothers dead
murdered Sunday nightp'
A murnur of sympathy was expressed
by the listeners. The sheriff turned his
eager eyes upon the face of Poker Joe,
who had returned to his seat at the
poker table. He had been apparently
deaf to tho story told by Miles, and
though his face still bore deathlike
hue ho proceeded with his card playing
as coolly as if nothing unusual had oc-
Cured.
Sheriff Smith wcs puzzled. He would
have staked his life on the accuracy of
his suspicious, but there was not the
shadow of real evidence upon which to
base reason for placing the man under
arrest. There were discriminating cir
oumstances, however, which, since the
| identity of the girl was made known,
| had imbedded the suspicion deeper and
deeper into tho mind of the sheriff
Poker Joes arrival in town that even
ing, his display Of large amounts of
money occasioned by his heavy losses at
cards, his agitation caused by the pres
ence of the girl and his excitement and
anger at the words Of the sheriff. But
there was one thing absolutely requisite
to the welding of these links of circum-
stances into chain of evidence. 1t
would be disastrous venture for the
sheriff if he should fail. Ho turned to-
ward the pool table just as the barkeep-
er, who was industriously engaged be-
hind tho bar rubbing the glasses, looked
up and for the first time realized the
significance of the sheriff's recent re-
marks to Poker Joe The shock he re-
ccived from this CLEAN of intelligence
caused him to drop thin glass to the
floor. The ringing Of the broken glass
startled the entire company from the
reverie into which they had fallen. The
sleeping girl awoke, sprang to sitting
posture Oh the pool table, and with
frightened look, as if she had awakened
from some terrible dream, turned sud-
lenlv toward Poker Joe. She uttered a
shriek Of recognition and fell back on
tho table, hiding her face.
The gambler arose instantly. He
clutched at his belt nervously, and stag.
gering to the door passed out
Major Downey, who by this time had
fully realized and comprehended the
sheriff's suspicious, approached him and
L