The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1897-11-18
CHAPTER Y

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could have accounted for the appear
ance and disappearance of the robbers
Yet to suppose-which seemed the onl,
other horn to the dilemma-thatt the Sol
and guests Of the vice president of tn,
Missouri Western and one of our owl
directors would be concerned in trair
robbery was to believe something equal
ly improbable. Indeed l should have
put the whole thing down as u practica
! of Mr.. Cullen's party if it had moi
oecn for the loss of the registered let
tiers. Even a practical joker would hard
ly care to go to the length of cutting
open government mail pouches. for Tn.
Gle Sam doesn't approve of such conduct.
Whatever the explanation, had
enough facts to prevent me from vast.
ing more time OH that alkali plain,
Getting the men and horses back on to
the cars, l jumped up Oh tho tailhoard
and ordered the runner to pull out for
Flagstaff. 1t was run of seven hours
getting us in little after s, and in
those ..,Nlrs had done lot of thinking,
which had all come to one result--that
Mr. Cullens party was concerned in tho
hold up.
The two private cars were OH u siding,
but the Cullens had left for the Grand
canyon the moment they had arrived
and were about reaching there by this
time. / went to 2la and questioned the
cook and waiter, but they either had
seen nothing or else had been primad,
for not II fact did get from them. Go
ing to my own car, | ordered a quick
! supper and while I was eating it ques.
I tened my boy. He told ne that he had
heard tho shots and had bolted the front
door of my car as I had ordered when
went out; that us he turned to go to a
SAT I Place he had seen a man, revolver
i'll hand, climb over the oiIside gate Of
hlr. CLllcn's car, and for moment he
; had 9upPoscd it u ad agent till he saw
that it was Albert Cullen
81 hat was just after I had got off?'
askrl.
"-is, sab"
II il CO, mt have been Mr. C1l-
lei, } ~ I trciarcd, for found him
up" - ctlar old Of the car
yoa it WIZ, MIR. Goldon," Jim
il i. Il done seen his face cl ar in
4 II, and he done go into Mr.. Gull
lens car, wiar de old gentleman wuz
sitti,l.
That set me whlstliIg to myself, and
I laughed to think how hear l had come
to giving nitroylycerin to IL fellow who
WIS only shamniNlg heart failure, for
that it was Frederic Cullen who had
climlci on the car I hadn't the slight
e5f doubt. the resemblance between the
two brothers being quite strong enough
to deceive any one who had never seen
tbrnl Together. l smiled little and re-
god iii iiT' Gt;;at That ~5hld eaten the
rn] lsrr5, hut whether the Cullens will
Ike my doing it I question. What is
mere Lord Rallies will owe me bot
tie" Then | thought OF Madgc and
Giln't feel as pleased over my success as
hUi (: Il moment before.
By . O'clock the posse and were in
the ''HUle and skirting the San Fran
ci%'o AIS. There was no use OF press
ing tie ponins for our game wasn't
trying to escape, and for that matter,
cng isn't, as the Colorado river wasn't
lassable. 1t was a lovely moonlight
night, and the ride through the pines
was as pretty a enc as l remember ever
to have made. 1t set NE thinking of
MW.gc and Of our talk the evening be-
fore and Of what u change "a hours had
hruu%nt. 1t was lucky was riding an
mDian ony, Or should probably have
lane in IL heap. | don't know that 1
shou'l have cared particularly if prai-
RE dog :rrow had made me dash my
Trains ont, for | wasn't happy over the
job that lay before me.
We wat"red at Silver Spring at quar-
ter past ~. From that point we were
clear CT the pines and ont on the plain,
so w could go a better pace This
brought us to the half way ranch by 2,
where we gave the ponies IL feed and an
hoar's rest. We reached the last relay
e,a.ion Just us the neon set, about $40,
and, as all the rest Of the ride was
through coconiuo forest, VIC held UP
thr'" fer daylight getting little sleep
nlcanN lille.
We rode into the camp at the Grand
canyon u little after s, and the deserted
look Of the tents gave me u moments
fright, for | feared that the party had
gone. Jnlfree explained, however. that
some had ridden out to Moran Point
and the rest had gone down Hance's
trail So I hrcakfasted, and then took u
look Mt Alb It Cullen winchester. That
it had been recently fired was as plain
as the Grand canyon itself Throwing |
back the bar, found an empty car
fridge shell. still oily from he discharge.
That completed the tale Of seven shots.
! didn't feel absolutely safe till 1 had
asked Tolfrce # there bad been any !
shooting Of echoes by the party, but his
denial rounded out my chain of evil
deuce. Telling the sheriff to guard the
bags of the party carefully, took two
of the posse and rode over to Moran's.
Sure enough there We're Mr. Cullen,
Albert and Captain Ackland. They gave
Il shout at seeing me, and even before L
'Itd rcatilctl them they called to know
how could come 50 soon and if ! had
caught the robbers. NJ Cullen started
to tell his pleasure at my rcjoining the
party, but nlycyprcssionnl&dollim pause,
aud it seemed to dawn On al three that
the winchester across my saddle and the
cowboys resting nouchal..,.tly on the
,ovolyors in their belts had Il meaning.
"Mr. Cullen,' [ said. 1--WE got
very unpleasant job OH hand which !
don't want TO make any worse than
need be. Every fact points toyour party
as guilty of holding up the train last
night and stealing these letters. Prob
ably yea weren't Ill concerned, but
I've got 70 20 on the assumption that
you are all guilty till you prove other
WISE"
Jaw, you're joking drawlod Al
bert.
II hope SO, "Isnid But for the pres
ent I've cct,to liz English and treat the
joke seriously
"What do you want to do?' asked
No. T,,li l