Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1898-01-28
CHAPTER III.

CHAPTER III.
There was great excitement at the
junction when we arrived without the
express messenger, who acted as postal
clerk as we'll.
When the local express agent learned
that the messenger was not with tho
rescued party, that the conductor had
been unable to find him, and that no
one could remember having seen him
since we stopped and he was seen head
ing for high land with his register
pouch and some packages Of express
matter bearing red seals, he began to
wire i'll all directions. In little while
mounted men were dashing out toward
the hills SO as to be ready to take the
| trail at dawn.
1t was Ilain enough, the agent ar
| gued, that the messenger had taken adj
vantage Of the circumstances and clear
ed out with the wealth III his posses
sion. y thousand dollars reward was
offered for the capture of the messenger.
a deputy sheriff made up posse of
four, including himself, and put out
for the scene Of the robbery. They
! were among the first to leave town, and,
as they all knew the country, were soon
upon the ground where the open and
empty safe left little to be explained
The safe, they argued had been blown
up by the messenger for a blind, but they
would not be fooled.
The messenger, it would seem, had
remained in the vicinity of the washout
until the train was abandoned, and then
| cot a 1pnrr thr,,,,,h . .,
| trackless hills. He knew the packages
| that We're most valuable and with these
| he filled his pockets. The gold he must
| leave, for the journey would be a tire
| some one. The country, which was new
to him, was extremely rough. At times
he found himself at the bottom of a
! deep gorge, and again at the top Of
| steep bluff, and saw before him u black
and apparently bottomless abyss There
| was no moon, but the friendly stars
would guide him. Pixies peak, stand
ing high against the sky, showed him
where the east was, while the Green
| horn range rose rough and abrupt to the
west. But when he had been upon his
| journey less than an hour, gray cloud
hung like IA heavy fog on the hills and
shut ont all the light from the heavens
and obscured the earth. Instead of wait
ing for the mists to clear away, he kept
on going and was soon hopelessly lost,
so far as any knowledge Of the points
| of the compass was concerned. He
might, for what he knew, be headed for
the hills, or he might be walking in
the direction of the junction and the
states prison.
At last having reached what appear
ed to be the summit of little hill, he
sat down upon a huge rock TO rest. AS
he sat there he thought he heard a sound
like that produced by horses stepping
about on a stone floor. Presently the
cloud rolled away, and although the
valley below was still obscurcd, the
stars We're bright above and the crags
Of the main range stood out clean cut
| against the western sky. Before him he
saw Pixies peak and knew that little
way below him. hid in the mist, lay the
| junction.
The sheriff and his posse, lost in the
| fog, had halted i'll a small basin and
were waiting for the clouds to clear
away. The sheriff insisted that he had
heard a man cough, and now the little
party were sitting their horses in ST.
lence, which was broken only by the
nervous tramping of broncho. What's
that" asked the sheriff pointing to the
rock above them. Il should say 1t was
bear sitting on his launches, said
one of the men. 'I'll just tap it with
cartridge" continued the last speaker;
| ,t ,f m L.
gave a snort, and instantly the figure of
the big messenger rose from the rock
and stood out against the dark blue sky.
Until now he had been sitting barehead-
ed, and that gave him the bunchy look
of bear, but when he stood up and
clapped his bell topped cap upon his
head the sheriff recognized him in an
instant.
Lets drop him." said one of the
men. "There' S thousand in it and if
he ever leaves that rock he's gone.
Hold" said the sheriff. 1--WE must
give him a show to surrender.
When the four men had swung their
guns into position, the sheriff command
ed the messenger to throw up his hands.
Instead of obeying the man turned as if
he intended to bolt, and with the first
move of his body the four rifles cracked
almost as one gun, and the messenger
went down.
Throwing the bride reins over the
necks of the horses, the sheriff's posse
dismounted and hurried up the little
hill, but when they reached the spot
where the messenger had stood there
was no messenger or sign of messenger.
Anticipating the rain of lead, he had
dropped behind the rocks while the bull
let's passed over his head, and by the
time the posse had reached the crest of
the hill and recovered from their sur
prise the messenger was far up the side
of the mountain, hiding among the
crags
"What d u say now. cap?" asked
the man who had been anxious to earn
the reward. "Do we git i'm mex time
er do we let i'm go?"
"Git i'm, f." said the sheriff, and the
posse returned to their horses.
CHAPTER ".
The white cloud rolled down the
mountain as the fleece rolls from q
sheen that is being shOrn and Law in a