The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1896-05-02


whether I'd best tell Sam what / hac
seen. He was still at the emigrants
camp. so / walked over and found hin
sitting on a key listening to a girl oi
Is or Whereabouts, who was strummine
the banjo and singing, and she did il
very nicely. / must say / was made
| welcome by the emigrants, and the
gray-haired father of the crowd told
me they had come all the way from
Iowa in their wagons and were going
| on to California. AS the hour was get
ting late for campers to be awake, /
presently got up to go, but Sam kept
his seat on the keg.
Give us the darkey song once more
little GAL he said, and she willingly
/ sang for him. 1t was only a break
| down. cake-walk tune. with Niger
nonsense words; but IL was lively and
l rollicking, and-it hit Sam Browns
taste. and the correctness of that was
not to be questioned in Nevada in the
TO the wagon and lay down on the
THE singing finished, we went back
early sixties.
ground to sleep. / had my partners
blankets along to lend to Sam, so we
were both well fixed for the night We
rolled ourselves up in our blankets
little distance away from each other,
each with his weapons by him handy
to reach. OF course, we picked a place
where we could see the horses, which
we had tied by the wagon. / had de-
cided not to tell Sam about the horse
man, but TO let matters take their
course.
Sam Brown seemed to drop off to
sleep as soon as he lay down, but that
may have been pretence / was rest
less at first and woke two or three
times from short maps; and each time
/ found that he was awake. At last,
as everything was quiet, / fell into
sound slumber and slept for hours.
woke with a start at the sound of
shot. The moon was down and II was
dark among the trees. There was the
sound of voices and strange rattling
about of things over at the emigrants'
camp. / looked for Sam and found he
was gone.
Il slipped out of my blankets and
took a look round my camp to see If
everything was all right. The horses,
Sans and mine, were standing quietly
where we had tied them, and nothing
had been disturbed. The blanket that
Sam Brown had slept in, and his sad
die, which served as a pillow, were as
he had left them on the ground. so IL
was reasonable to believe that he was
not far away. Having found out so
much, my next move was to go over
to the emigrants' camp to see what the
matter was there. / made sure that
my revolver was in place and in work
ing order before started. and then
crept to a place where / could see
what was going on without being seen
myself.
What I saw there was bad enough.
Four men. with Grape masks pulled
over their faces, were holding up the
emigrant party. One of the grown
sons sat on wagon pole, his right
hand supporting his left arm, which
had been broken by "a bullet A young
woman, his wife, probably. lay in a
dead faint as his feet The others of
the party stood or crouched about, the
women moaning and crying. the men
holding their hands above their heads.
They had been surprised in sleep and
were defenseless. Two of the masked
men covered the party with revolvers.
The other two had searched the wagons
and thrown everything in them out
upon the ground.
"Of course. my first thought was that
Sam Brown was i'm the job, but l could
not see him anywhere about I was
certain that he was not one of the
masked men, for his build and bearing
couldn't have been mistaken by any
one who had once seen him. I felt that
IL would not be time for me to take a
hand In the business until / found out
where he was and how he stood in the
matter. The two masked searchers
were busily at work ripping up bed
ticks. cutting the lining of clothes and
trunks and boxes. tucl<ing
everything that struck their fancy into
a canvas bag that lay open between
them. They had found a jug of whis-
key, and by appearances all of the rob-
bers had drunk of II more than once:
bad thing to do while conducting
- a l.. a
Of them said to the man who seemed
the leader:
"'we've got everything we can find
m the wagons and on the men,
What have you Rot?'
Their guns, a lot of jewelry and $50
N money
is that all? They're not travelling
% California with no more money than
hat. Search the women
AT this order the woman shrieked,
md the old father of the outfit. stand
ng there with his hands held up above
his gray head, spoke:
In heavens name, spare us that.
You have wounded my son and taken
III we have. DO not add outrage to
hat
Shut your mouth and keep IL shut
commanded the leader brutality. one
word more and We'll kill every man in
]
We're wasting time
with me, looking on. the impulse
o turn loose on the robbers at any
hazard was almost overmastering. But
knew that with the odds of one
against four. and with Sam Brown un-
certain. a shot from me would almost
certainly cost not only my life, but
Ilso the life of every one of the emf
rants. AS l hestated l saw little
movement in the shadow of a great
'ine tree behind the two robbers, who
we're standing. and not two steps away
rom then. Silent as a shadow. the
orm of a man blended with the dark
rec trunk, and through the darkness
aw the cold CLEAN of two revolvers
hat he held. one in each hand. The
eatures of the man l could not dis
inguish, but by his huge bulk and the
White CLINT Of the eye. like that of an
fingered horse, l knew II was sam
Brown. His long hair fell down over