The Advocate and news., 1898-01-12

ride, or at least that was what it was to
me. had to tell them all how l had
settled ON them as the criminals. To
hear Miss Cullen talk one would have
inferred / was the greatest Of living de-
tectiVes.
1.-THE mistake we made" she said,
twas not securing Mr.. Gordon's help to
begin with, for then we should never
have needed to hold the train up or,
If we had, we should never have been
discovered"
What was more to me than this i'll
deserved admiration were two things
she said ON the way back when we two
had paired off and were bit behind the
rest.
"The sandwiches and the whisky
were very good, " she told me- "And I'm
so grateful for the trouble you took.
1T was a pleasure, )" ! said
"And, Mr.. Gordon" she continued,
and then hesitated for a moment, my
Frederic told me that you--you said
you honored me for'-
II do" exclaimed energetically as
she paused and colored.
"Do you really?" she cried. II
thought Fred was only trying to make
me less unhappy by saying that you
did"
IT said it, and I meant it, " l told
her.
"I have been so miserable over that
lie," she went on, "but / thought if l
let you have the letters it would ruin
papa. l really wouldn't mind poverty
myself, Mr.. Gordon, but he takes such
pride in success that couldn't be the
one to do it. Iought to have known you
would help us.
| thought this q pretty good time to
make a real apology for my conduct on
the trail as well as to tell her how sorry
was at not having been able to repack
her bag better. She accepted my apology
very sweetly and assured me her be-
longings had been put away so neatly
that she had wondered who did it. l
knew she only said this out Of kindness
and told her so, telling also Of my strug-
giles over that pink beribboned and be-
laced affair in a way which made her
laugh. Ihad thought twas q ball gown
and wondered at her taking it to the
canyon, but she explained that it was
dressing sack. That made me open my
eyes, thinking that anything SO pretty
could be used for the same purposes for
which 1 use my crash bath gown, and,
while my eyes were open, ] saw the fol
ly Of thinking that girl who wore such
things could ever get along on my sal
airy. In that way the incident was a
good lesson for me, for it made me feel
that even if there had been no Lord
Rallies / still should have had no chance.
On our return to the cars there was a
telegram from the postmaster general
awaiting me. After a glance at it, as
the rest Of the party looked anxiously
ON, passed it over to Miss Cullen, for
wanted her to have the triumph Of
reading it aloud. 1t said:
Hold letters pending arrival OF Special Agent
jackson, due in Flagstaff Oct. 10.
"The election is the 18th" Frederic
laughed, executing a war dance on the
platform. "The G. S. IS dough is cook
ed.
"I must waltz with some one," cried
Madge, and before could offer she took
hold Of Albert and the two were Whirl-
ing about, much to my envy. The Cul-
lens were about the most jubilant road
agents had ever seen.
After consultation with Mr.. Cullen,
we had 21S and 81 attached to No. l
when it arrived and started for Ash
Forks. He wanted to be ON the ground
q day in advance, and l could easily be
back in Flagstaff before the arrival Of
the special agent.
I took dinner in 218, and they toasted
me as if l had done something heroic