The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1897-11-16
prn,cA1. 1899. sxJ lrpnweorT COMPANY N

w Aolt hil NY JcWcIy penihuJ ga
cept my watch" she said, "and that !
hide every night. So really hope we'll
be held up. it would be such an adven-
ture."
"There isn't any chance Of it, Miss
Cullen, / told her, "andsif we were,
you probably wouldn't even know that
it was happening, but would sleep right
through it..
Wouldn't they try to get our money
and our watches?" she demanded
told her no and explained that the
express and mail cars were the only
ones to which the road agents paid any
attention. She wanted to know the way
it was done; 80 described to her how
sometimes the train was tagged by q
danger signal, and when it had slowed
down the runner found himself covered
by armed men, or how gang would
board the train, one by one, at way sta
lions, and then, when the time came,
steal forward, secure the express agent
and postal clerk, climb over the tender
and compel the runner to stop the train
at some lonely spot on the road. She
made me tell her all the details Of such
robberies as knew about and, though
I had never been concerned in any, !
was able to describe several, which, as
they were monotonously alike, confess
I colored up bit here and there, In an
attempt to make them interesting to
her. I seemed to succeed, fos she kept
the subject going even after we had left
the table and were smoking our cigars
in the observation saloon. Lord Ralles
had lot to say about the American
lack Of courage in letting trains con-
tanning 20 and 80 men be held up by
half a dozen robbers.
"Why," he calculated "both my
brother and have double express with
us, and do you think we'd sit still in
our seats? No. Hang me if we wouldn't
pot somethingi"
"You might" laughed, little
nettled, confess, by his speech, "but
I'm afraid it would be yourselves.
saw, you fancy resistance impossi-
ble?' drawled Albert Cullen.
at has been tried" answered, "and
without success. You eau see it's like
all surprises-one side is prepared be-
fore the other side knows there is dam
ger. Without regard to relative num-
berA the odds are all in favor Of the
road agents. "
"But I wouldn't sit still, whatever
the Odds" said his lordship "And no
Englishman would"
"Well, my lord" said, II hope, for
your sake, then, that you'll never be in
hold up for should feel about you
as the runner of q locomotive did when
the old lady asked him if it wasn't very
painful to him to run over people. Yes,
madam he sadly replied. There is
nothing that muses. an engine up so. ,"
don't think Miss Cullen liked Lord
Rallies comments on American courage
any better than I did, for she said:
Cant you take Lord Rallies and
Captain Ackland into the service Of the
K. and A., Mr.. Gordon, as o special
guard?"
"The K. and A. has never had rob-
berry yet, Miss Cullen" I replied, land
don't think that it ever will have
"Why not?" she asked.
explained to her how the canyon Of
the Colorado to the north and the dis
lance of the Mexican border to the south
made escape SO almost desperate that
the road agents preferred to devote their
attentions to other routes. "f we were
boarded, Miss Cullen" I said, "your
jewelry would be as safe as it is i'll Chi
cago, for the robbers would only clean
out the express and mail cars. But if
they should so far forget their manners
as to take your trinkets I'd agree to re-
turn them to you inside of one week.
"That makes it all the jollier, " she
cried eagerly. "We could have the fun
Of the adventure and yet not lose any
thing. Can't you arrange for it, Mr..
Gordon?"
"I'd like to please you, Miss Cullen"
said, land I'd like to give Lord Rallies
chance to show us how to handle those
gentry, but it's not to be DONE" real
" should have been glad to have tho
road agents pay us call
We spent that day pulling up the Ra-
ton pus, and SO on over the Glorietta
pass down to Lamy, where, as the party
wanted to see Santa Fe, I had our two
cars dropped off the overland, and we
ran up the branch line to the old Mexi-
can city. 1t was well worn ground to
me, but I enjoyed showing tho sights to
Miss Cullen, for by that time had
come to the conclusion that I had never
met a sweeter or jollier girl. Her beauty,
too, was Of a kind that kept growing on
one, and before I had known her "a
hours, without quite being in love with
her, I was beginning to hate Lord
Rallies, which was about the same
thing, suppose. Every hour convinced
me that the two understood each other,
not merely from the little asides and
condolences they kept exchanging, but
even more SO from the way Miss Cullen
would take his lordship down occasion
ally. Yet, like fool, the more saw to
confirm my first diagnosis the more I
found myself dwelling on the dimples
at the corners Of Miss Cullen's mouth,
the bewitching uplift Of her upper lip,
the runaway curls about her neck and
the curves and color Of her cheeks.
Half day served to see everything
in Santa Fe worth looking at, but Mr..
Cullen decided to spend there the time
they had to wait for his other son to
join the party. To pass the hours I
hunted up some ponies, and we spent
three days in long rides up the old Santa
Fe trail and to the outlying mountains.
Only one incident was other than pleas
ant, and that was my fault. As we were
riding back to our cars on the second
afternoon we had to cross the branch
roadbed, where a gang happened to be
at work tamping the ties.
"Since you're interested in road
agents, Miss Cullen" said, "you may
like to see one. That fellow standing
in the ditch is Jack brute, who was
concerned in tho D. and r. G. hold up
three years ago."
Miss Cullen looked where I pointed,
and, seeing a man with gun, gave a
startled jump and pulled up her pony,