The Opelousas courier., 1895-02-23

sne,e was a murmur OF indignation
against the man who would seek The
punishment Of d child for stealing a
s1lk handkerchief-and that aftaf Il
nan been returned.
Jon France laughed and went tn
MS room, while the sheriff smiled. as
ne always smiled in danger and out,
ana led the boy away. The crowd
looked puzzled.
ne mad my boy locked up, did he3'
snrieked Black Rosa, when the details
OF This little episode were related to
ner. The black face of the little Mex
1can "oma seemed ablaze with indi2-
nation. He shall pay for this."
sonora forgets the two silver dol
iars' tainted Robber Dan; N Thought
me sonora might feel sorry that w.
mad planned to rob this fine Ameri-
cano. But it's all right now-is 1t,
oearest"' he added. mockingly.
koo him! murder him." yelled
BLACK Rosa, and she staggered from
her chair, as if She would carry out her
own command. but fell on the floor IN
a heap.
Dan n his pals lifted the woman
&c a bed, and the leader remarked that
she would sleep till morning, and be
neither help O hindrance. It had
ueeh hnoWnf for twenty-four hours that
Ihe money-some ten thousand dollars
Tor the Bull Dimingo pay roll had
oeeh renewed. but until announced by
Manager France it was not known
v-le' that gentleman would start for
the tnine.
al twelve o'clock that tight four
meab heavily armed, rode out Of Du
ranJo.
hours later the stage followed
tffem, with one occupant on the in
side and the driver alone on the front
boot Bloomer, the driver. might as
wei have been unaccompanied so far
as the inside occupant of the coach
was concerned. But he was used to
these lonely rides. and when a passen.
ger preferred to be exclusive it simply
to Bloomer the poor taste OF
the passenger. So he talked to his
horses and sang to them and passed
the lonely hours as comfortably as if
he had been surrounded by a half
dozen passengers, and soon forgot the
fellow OF the inside.
Coming to a bend in the road, where
the ascent of the first steep mountain
is begun, Bloomer fell into a reflective
mood and remarked to the nigh wheel.
er that the fellow on the inside
might possibly rise to an appreeia-
ton O. the society Of u stage driver
and his bosses If the muzzle ct a
double-barreled shotgun should hap
pen to appear at the window of the
OF course Bloomer was not really ex,
pecting such a surprise for his unso
cable passengers SO when the shotgun
appeared, with three Others, and &C,
.companied by an order to throw
them ribbons and throw up them
hands," he was himself SO completely
surprised that he obeyed without a
word Of protest.
If he was surprised at this sudden
appearance of road agents, he was
~dumfounded at what followed.
For five minutes there was q rattle Of
as II a miniature battle were
fought. When it was all over,
stage robbers were fatally
and the other two surren-
dered to Sheriff Barney-and the mar
OF straw on the inside was literally
shot to pieces. And this is the way i,
happened, rs Bloomes himself was
fond of telling it:
You see, they didn't put ne on.
Never seen a sheriff yet that thought
stage driver had nerve enough to play
out his hand in a game like that; IN
/ don't know but a Teller would git a
bit ratified a.wonderin' how he's
a-goin' to come out at the end O. the
game. It's purity ticklish bizness to
be a-sittin' on a stage through the
long, dark hours O. the night n
whether yer goin' ter drive
back er ride in a box. But the way it
all happened was like thiss.
"You see that kid what stole the
done that for a blind.
His OIL woma she put him IN. She
a note ter France m tell the kid
ter drop it In his pocket m steal his
handkerchief, err anythin' else he could
git his hands on, n then kinder loiter
'roun' SOS to git caught. Well, sir,
that oil Black Rosa was a corker. She
gives the whole snap away in the note,
n she tells France ter have the boy
put In jail, n that'd be q tip for her
that he gets the note. Then she sets
up a howl m throws the gang off, an
bin drinkin' considerab bic an
a leetle bit skeered that her
play wouldn't win, she was knocked
clean out-oxcited-'n' tainted on the
dead square.
$50 France, wen he gifts the OF wom-
ans note, he just quietly lets Barney in,
n Barney he tells him his system. II
they plays It to win. W'n France he
goes up to his room, Barney he goes
gifts his team n meets France at tn.
back door m they goes out n lays for
the gang. SONY one place on the road
a job O stage robbin' could be
done n the robbers git away, an Bar
.ey he knows the place, an that's
they camps n waits for the
gang-an' they gifts 'emsdead to rights.
THAT inside passenger IS wat
knocked me cold. They puts the stage
agent onto the play, n, he fxes up a
straw man-w'atye calls a dummy-'n'
he loads him into the stage SOS to fool
me n the road agents both.
II reckon Black Rosa didn't know
near she was a-callin' the turn
wen she prescribed death for gringos.
She didn't git the mes she was after
the fust place, but | reckon the