Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1896-02-28

L
and looked to be just the age between
girlhood and womanhood about me-
dium height, with brown hair and
ewes and rather delicate features.
No one offered her a seat i; those
that had one to themselves, when they
saw her, looked out of the window, or
pretended to be asleep; but a close
observer would have noticed that she
did not try very hard to attract the
attention Of any one to her want, and
would have noticed that she paused
for a second near two men seated about
the middle of the car, and cast an ap-
pealing glance at one of them, ne
making motion behind the back OF
the seat for her to 60 on.
Tom, although unacquainted with
the usages of society, as she approach
ed him, got up, and with kind, friend
ly smile, said:
eyer look kinder tired sit down
here"
She thanked him; and as she took
the seat said, seeing that he was going
to stand:
"There is. plenty of room for us
both. I do not wish to deprive you OF
your seat please sit down, sir !"
Tom sat down, and the girl soon
saw that she would have to push the
talking, so said:
"When do we get to Benton ?"
"At IL o'clock. Are you going that
fur ?"
"Yes; I expect to meet my father
He works in the shop at Rawlins-at
the what do you call it?"
"The round house?"
eyes, that's the name. You may
know him; he is called Bowman"
"Yer don't say yer fathers Tom
Bowman reckon / does know him,
and right wal, too; but 1 never heard
tell ev his havin' daughter. How
old ar yer, miss ?"
The girl hesitated and blushed, for
she had chanced the name, and
besides, she was engaged in business
that was repulsive to her.
Tom, suspecting nothing, but seeing
that she was worried, said
"Never mind. Gurls do not like
ter tell their age. 1 am pretty wal
known as Indian Tom. I'm going ter
Benton, myself, an inter Rawlins, an
will see ter yer fur Bowman's sake
an besides, yer may be ev help ter me.
I've got a pile ev money h'ar"-
pointing to where his shirt was stick
ing out. "It is the money to pay ther
tie-men an graders, an four eyes is
better than two. So, miss, eff yer see
anyone maxim kind ev queer moves,
nudge me-"
"I'll not fall" she said, with a
peculiar smile. "But there's no danger,
is there, with all these people around ?"
"They don't make no difference.
Robbers long this line er pretty bold"
"My! what pretty pistols you've
got. Won't you let me see them ?"
"Sartainly! They is mighty nice
things ter have" Tom said, as he
handed them to her.
Miss Bowman-so. called-unper-
ceived by Tom, had taken out two OF
the cartridges, but through nervous
ness, let one of them fall.
This attracted Toms attention at
once.
"Be keerful! What ar yer bout ?
Yer must not do that !! Yer have
dropped cartridge out?"
AS Tom said this he looked sharply
at her, stopped and picked up the
cartridge, and returned it to its cham
Der.
But he noticed nothing in Miss
Bowman's manner, except what would
be natural to one being spoken to 80
sternly; and believing it was only
carelessness, said:
eyer must not mind me bein' some
what rough; but don't like any one
ter fool with my pistols en- that ar
way. No harm DONE"
For some time nothing passed be-
tween these two.
But had Tom been a close observer
he would have seen some very signifi-
cant signs pass from the two men in
the middle of the car to the girl; but
he did not, and as the whistle blew,
denoting that they were approaching
Rocky Creek station, Tom turned,
and said:
"Ye amt annoyed at me, is yer,
miss?"
"No, indeed"
oval, then, come and git sum sup
per-" said Tom.
"With pleasure" answered the girl.
And when the train stopped, Tom
helped her out, and both entered the
dining hall in the neighborhood, with
the crowd.
The two men alluded to had been
close observers of what took place
between Tom and the girl, and. when
they left the train, they were at once
Joined by number of other men from
various parts of the train, and after a
whispered conference, all of them
entered the dining hall, taking care to
avoid attracting particular attention,
and took seats at another table than
that Tom was at.
After eating hearty supper, Tom