The San Francisco call., 1896-05-31
RooOE.


$1,000 REwARD.-The above reward will be
paid by the Postofice Department for the ar
rest or conviction Tor for information leading
thereto), of George Lewis, alias George Cox,
alias Anderson Lewis; and of Charles Haley,
alias Reuben Holt, postoffiee thieves who es-
capped from the Los Pasos County Jail, where
they were awaiting trial, on July thirteenth
Then followed description of the two
thieves and their portraits. It was the
woodcuts which caught the eye of slim
young girl in riding habit, who was
awaiting the arrival of the one
daily mail in the postoffice of a West
ern town. She cooked her small head on
one side and closed one eye as she looked
critically at these rude efforts of por-
traiture.
"very bad work!" she thought, ''and
what dreadful faces especially the big
man with the dropping eyelid."
And then, because the postofice was
| quite devoid of other objects of interest,
she read the notice more carefully, uncon-
| scioasly noting the details OF the descrip-
| ton of the two men.
| ga thousand dollars!" she said to her
self, thoughtfully. 'Just the amount
which would take me to Paris for year
or two of work and study under one of the
great painters. OIL if I had but the
chance know"
Her soliloquizing was interrupted by
the noisy entrance of the postmaster with
the mail bag. 1t was a matter of but a
! few moments to distribute its contents,
and Rita Allison was soon galloping across
the prairie on her pretty bronco. She had
two months before graduated from an
Eastern boarding-school and had come
| IN f0r nix bnr On
his lonely cattle ranch. Ben Allison real
lied quite fully that for a lively and ambi-
tious GIRL Just from the freshness and
activity of boarding school, life amid
these rough surroundings was hardly an
ideal existence. He was as anxious as
Rita that she should paint and study, and
one of the letters which she brought to
him this very morning seemed to open a
way for this. 1t came from possible pur-
chaser of some of. Ben's unused grazing
land, and it contained request that he
would meet the writer on the arrival of the
afternoon train.
"If I sell this land" said Ben, "you
shall go to Paris. But it is rather bad to be
obliged to meet the man to-day, as 1 shall
have to leave you all alone in the house.
OF course, you don't want to ride thirty
miles again Co-udy, anu IeIeT anu w ll4lS
are out with the stock"
Nonsense" interrupted Rita. "Do you
think | would be the one TO prevent this
meeting, which is entirely for my benefit
Moreover, what should 1 fearP Not tigers
or rattlesnakes and certainly not human
beings, for it is days since specimen oi
the genus homo has approached volun-
tarily within our borders. And then
have Ben Bolt" laying her hand on the
massive head ofa,young mastiff. "And this
too," she added, examining the charges
of handsome revolver, which Ben had
taught her to use with considerable skill
So Ben was persuaded that Rita was moi
afraid to be left alone until late in the
evening on lonely ranch ten miles from
human habitation, and was soon gallop-
ing away.
Rita watched his retreating figure until
it disappeared, and then she set about the
accomplishment of various household
tasks, which kept her fingers busy, while
in spirit she was free to wander across the
continent, across the ocean, into the illim-
liable realms of art. After little she
stepped out on the porch to cool her hot
cheeks in the prairie breeze. She glanced
down the road in the direction taken by
Ben, and then she turned her eyes toward
the great expanse of ripping green which
stretched for miles without break.
As she gazed, quite suddenly two strange
figures seemed to spring, as it were, from
the ground but q few hundred feet from
the house. Rita's astonishment was SC
great that she stood quietly awaiting their
approach. As they came nearer she per-
ceived that they were very ragged and
altogether disreputable in appearance
that one man was tall and gaunt, with
long gray hair and beard, and that the
other was younger and small, and thai
they both limped painfully as they slowly
approached the house.
Rita was not timid or hysterical girl
but she knew that in this land of oper
doors and generous hospitality two stran
gers would not be hiding thus in the Ions
prairie grass, making their appearance
only when they knew her to be quit,
alone, without some sinister motive anC
instinctively she laid her hand on tn,
head of Ben Bolt who was taking hi:
afternoon nap on the sunny porch.
The men seemed to observe him as the!
drew nearer, for they stopped for a mo
ment and seemed to consult; then the!
came on with more determined stride
and Rita noticed, not without a sligh
sinking of the heart, that the older maj
carried in his hand stout stick with
thick-knotted end. By this time the do
had discovered them and but for Rita
hold en- his collar and her quick "Dowu
Ben!" he would have flown at the new
corners.
What do you want?'' said Rita in
clear voice.
1--WE want food and we want money
Il every red cent you have in the house, ant
we want it pretty quick, too" said tn