The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1899-02-03

Of the men with the show was Z cross.
peevish little old bareback rider nam
ed Fisher, who had been. in the bust
ness about hundred years OF, so, and
whose temper was heap soured for
that reason.
1--WE all had talked a good deal about
the possibility of being held up when
we were up in the Black hills country,
and one night this little barebacked
rider man, Fisher, got UP on his hind
legs and declared himself on the hold
ing up question.
want to tell you all one thing,
said he, and that is, that the nine-foot
high plug doesn't live in this world
that's got the weight and the heftiness
to hold me up at the point. of a gun.
It can't be DONE l can't be held up.
want to go on record right here and
now, in the middle of wild neck of
country, by saying that Jim Fisher can
not be held up and never will be held
up
ooh, we'll, we had all heard that
kind of bluff talk often before, and so
We all gives little Fisher more or less
of the laugh.
Cali right. We left Omaha-our two
n-wheelers-about 3 o'clock in the
afternoon of an October day, and we
more than tossed up the water behind
us. Must have made fully four knots
an hour, reckon. Anyhow, about the
middle OF the night the Gen. Sherman
showed her nose alongside an elevated
sort of sandbar by Easton, Mo-, to take
on wood. We hadn't any more than
come to full stop than all Of us down
on the deck heard commotion in the
pilot house and some short. loud talk.
Cup with your hands and git away
from that wheel in a hurry said a
voice that none of us was familiar
with, and in second or two we heard
some of the same kind of talk, direct
ed by another unfamiliar voice to the
engineer of the boat, who had been
snoozing in an armchair. Oh, we
knew all right what had happened.
We knew better, though, when we
looked up to the bridge and saw six
ducks with Winchesters pointed right
our way. They had just sneaked over
the rail when we drew alongside for
that wood, and they just about had us,
armed and ammunitioned as all hands
of us were. In about minute the
Gen. Sheridan moves alongside us and
we could see that she, too, was pretty
fair in the hands of the enemy, for
there were about dozen of 'em, also
with Winchesters, taking it nice and
easy-looking almighty alert, just the
same-on the bridge.
"Old man Robinson was on our boat
and he hustled out of his cabin with a
roar and got to the foot of the bridge
ladder, where he was gently told by
one of the quiet looking ducks on the
bridge to stay just where he was.
Whats this here game, anyhow
asked old man Robinson. What you
after? My summers pickings?'
That's about it, reckon said the
man on the bridge, who seemed to be
the leader. You can just stand where
you are and tell this boy alongside of
me where your dust is. He'll take care
of it. You needn't bother about NOV
ing yourself
'Well, old man Robinson just stood
there frothing at the mouth. He was
speeches.. We were all more or less
speeches.. Then it happened. It
happened. 1t happened SO blooming
suddenly that it nearly gave us all
heart disease. Little Jim Fisher, the
bareback rider, who didn't intend to be
held up by any man, he said, stood
right behind me when all this was
going on. When the robber on the
bridge sprung that spiel about holding
old man Bobinson-who had been
Fishers employer and friend for about
twenty years-up for his summers
rake-off, could hear Fisher breathing
hard. l figured that he was skeeart