The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-10-02
@'TWAS COMPANY D +
SAWDUsT HTLI LOST HIS NET BUT
BRoUGHT zIFE o ~ sfPELY.
An Ii1cltinr stuae-conch .Rlio from Orden

An Exciting S~tnGe-Conch .Hkie from Order
to IIelena-Lobkod~lror Trohblo Dldn't
Occur Until .AiHertHelenh VIA Rsached
and All the Passengers Were safe
HELENA, Mon. Sept. 27.-"uust before wa got
aboard nj ogder.'' said Bob HARDWOOD. Saw.
dust Bill, who gas to. drive the coach the FIRST
day and then be,a passenger with the rest OF us
the balance OF tho way. says to me ON the
quiet:
Bet you an even hnndred. Bob. we DOM
get into Helena zllve.'
Does that mean the whole party. Bill?
says,I
1t does. says he. L bet that not n pas
senger on this trim gets into H~elenaallve.'
ilU,gp YOU l saws: and we. shook hands.
] figured that It was -Rood bet i'll lost It. for
II l got into Helena dead I'D have no usc for
the money. and II we both got in dead thu ,best
that Bill crnld make, out!ot Il was. n stand-ofE
since he'd have no use for 1t. neither. SO i
bets.
Now. the only trouble 1 had in mind was to
come from the indians. The Shoshones, or
makes was the FIRST batch we'd have 10 meet.
but they was friendly; and after them was the
.Nez .Pereds. who. we heard. was ~crossln' the
stage line up inldaho. with Howard after'em.
And .nnallytthen was the Crows. who, while
Friendly enough in the main sometimes done
a Dit oil daviltryy lust to keep their hand In, /
wasn't much afraid Of the whole three. Neither
was Hal Appleby. who got aboard. Nor, Tor
that matter. was the LEastern doctor or. the
tNo spectacled women--one young and one old
iron Boston. In fact. tSawdust Bill was the
only ono in the crowd that seemed the least bit
dubious. for just as he slid box under one of
the inside seats 1 heapd him mutter somethin'
about 'orders Is ord srs' Aand. 1 could see that
he was sort o. white about the gllls. Then,
whAl 1gawOnn nm In tho frant hont haaida ILL.,,
the others inslde-he turns to me and,says:
Bob. UmgKoin' to drive as careful as 1 can,
but all the same l reckon I'll win, that bet
Now. as the books say. the first day out was
uneventful. We seen ,nothin' more ,scary
than a couple O. ~rattlers. and they WAS dead.
The women screamed proper enough at sight
of EN-. but after Hall Appleby iHot out and
iskinned temI noticed that they, went to work
tryin' TO make belts ont of 'em. Nor did we
see any sign o. danger the second day. Still
BIZ lookedsseared. tHe'dlIeep tellin' the neEv
driver to go slow tandLnot bump the coach so
much. until finally Loot, tired, O. hearin' 10 and
cot inside. Thought it was all1well enough to,
consider the women. who. OF course. wasn't
used to bein' jolted half to death In agsta9e
coach: bnt we were fRettin' into the Indian.
country where things were risky!an I for one!
Wanted,t to hurry and get through and out OF IT,
Along about midnight theacoachssuddenly,
stopped. We all walked up :wonderin'. while.
Hall Appleby looked nut. We could hear
some oneysayin' In, o soft. mushy kind o. tone,
'~Tobac-tobac.'
Its Snakes Gays Hall. tRettin' ready TO
sleep again.
"'Graeious Heavens!' says the Oldest Boston
woman. tgettin' hysterieal ina second. twe're.
stopped by snakes!'
"fSnake Iniuns. num- says Hall. explain,
In thu thing srvanfinh tn arv,p Ro, ko-hoao
They amt half SO deadly as them others we
seen yesteriay-them that l ~skinRed-and they
was dead
And finally. bein' convinced OF this fact, we
all went to sleep again. The next dayywe up-
set. Upset as nice as II we'd a-plannedi 1t. The
women got through without "a scratch. but
1t took the Eastern doctor and Hall Appleby,
who rolled over each other. three or four min
utes to untapgle rifles and apologize. As for
me. l landed alongside OF Sawdust Bib up
agin a boulder. and Bill was so scairt' that he
kept on holletin' Look ontl look sout!' even.
after all the danger was past. Then'he picks
up the box again and puts 1t under the scat
for 1t had fell out abont the first ~thlng-and
then says to the driver:
For the love o. heaven. Pike. 20 slowv
Some time the next mornin' we pulled into
Pleasant Valley. Here the women and chill
dren had gathered for a hundred mile around.
The men were bulldin' blookhouses and git
tin their guns In trim. The Nez Pere6s were
comm down the stage road. they says. and
viasa KILN n everything In sight; and they ad-
clear. But Hail ,Alppleby was for Jgoin' on.
and SO. too. was sawdnst Bill, And then the
women. says that a little excitement was what
they was after. and that they'd take chances
mind. the coach pulled out again. Bill
looked at me as much as TO say, Now. I've got
, a Inrm n6,Str one eel eha noieh to win my bet but he
AT a stage station some fifty miles further
up. where we was to change horses again. We
'wqsthe extra horses. Pretty soon. though, we
all seen a small cloud o. dust over near the
bigger and bigger The Young Boston woman
brought out her feldglasses and took, the
. thing z i'm in; w as1ios the older one fidGsted and be;
kept at a respecta6ie distance, 'Ao
the young 0ne finally. and he's omiRgi this
outsider t,fGSpnis and Iis 4iSfS; plHs; a a sss.vs sST anss 3 BiR i
OAan aSS SO l II ta sss + hb9 Sns, :Rsy Dt ilEH s didn't torrv
for Pleasant. Valley before either Hall Apnleby
or me could swing our guns round and stop
"HGo on we heard Bill tell the driver, for
Bpt aS a 9oS crazy sld men a are s sIID,, OF lnI I'I,st
'ND' SsAA AAkAI II
along here, where there re more rocks and
ruts than there re Jackraobits in Texas. Go
80 the COACH began to move again. the
horses In u walk.
Well. III be hanged said Hall Applsby. II |
Bill hain't gettin' to be az careful as an old 4
hen with a duck chicken! AT this rate them
lnjuns. II the stock tender. really seen any.
sit down ON the roadside and make moe
casin tongues out OF our scalps before we
get In sight Q, the next station
He REALS. saw them. says the young wo.
man. still with her feldglRsses up, for ] Gan
twenty over there in the hills myself
And 30 there w~as--twenty Of 'em-as we
could make out after takin' our turn with the
glasses. too. They was Roin, the same direction
as US. and 1t looked mighty like they was foller-
IN usup We all felt like we'd struck the Nez
accordingly. Al the dry ravlne. six miles
further on, VIC saw ,somethin' moyin'. and We
bla2ed away. Sawdust Bill got down on the
boot and walked over to the spot. Then he
come back a.grinnln' with somethin' linn
hangin' over his shoulder.
How're you goin' TO cook IT. says he;
boil or stow
We'll. It was q coyote all right enough. and
" course We went on. But i noticed that there
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