The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1900-05-23
SPIDER s CHAPS.
D woL00TT LIE CLEAR BEARD.
ecseyright. isss. by American Press Asso.
ciation.l
CHAPTER WI

CHAPTER WI
= WHICH rHERE - A BATTLE WITH THE
THIEvEs
We were none Of us easily surprised
g anything Spider might do. but that
- single handed. should have taken
Sssr prisoners fairly amazed rs all.
"It's some er them monkey shines or
ys9rs again" said the Ballet Girl,
sosiding forward and catching Spider
- his collar. whats You tryin ter
make rs believe anyhow" Spider
-sesuggled to free himself
"Its right. l tell your he cried
tndignantly. ''D'you. s'pose they give
- their gums an boots an horses ius'
cause they loved met Well. they did
not Jus when struck that frs gang
Wat was a-comin down here I saw q
uttls spark Of Ere way off on the des.
0e The others hadn Z seen IL, I reckon,
Dens or them. an when I lef' them I
went over ter zee what the fire was for.
1hsfre was JUS goin out an them men
was layin roun L. All drunk. they
vaa IN all ssleer''
"What men7" asked.
"Hollis IN them three what was
ercavortiu roun here yesterday. They
vO a-sleepin on their saddles fer pii.
In but their boots was OF an their
Guns lay by their sidesL I crawled M
q thsn cut the picket lines er their
hsssss 20 led 'em OF. One got away.
~ the guns IN 'hings inter my chaps
'eauss hadn't TO other way Of packin
q That's al there 10 to It,"
"You said they were prisoners
WHAT'S holding them prisoners In.
0nirsd. much puzzled
'sThs cactus." replied Spider. with a
- Of sccrn at my stupidity. Don't
yeu - got their bootsf II they tried
- walk. they wouldn't have 10 feet
~ In two minutea ] didn't want ter
onke their h0rsea I kinder hated ter
49, them. % added Spider hesita tinely.
- didn't min the ether thinea'
lyon needn't mind about tho hofses
either" remarked Hayward. who was
eznmining the animals In question.
They re all mine-were. that is, un-
al they were stolen. What are we 90
~ to do about those prisoners Of Spi-
0W'sr
There was some discussion at first,
~ We had made no provision for the
asking nor Tor the maintenance of pris-
sossa but In common humanity we
eguh not leave them TO die of thirst
wbrs they were. Six men, with Lee
% their head. were sent ont to bring
MN In. The place where Spider had
left his capture was not far away. Fol-
Iswing the boys tracks. the party dis.
appeared. only to return shortly after.
ward with the news that the prisoners
Aad saved as all trouble by taking
themselves out Of the way. The tracks
sesmed to indicate that the horse that
sscspsd from Spider wandered back and
had been recaptured by the men, one of
whom had mounted him and then
fetched mounts fer the rest.
~-Spider was much mortified. He
blamed himself bitterly for not having
taken the brides as well rs the arms
and boots. and he wanted to start at
once In pursuit This was ont Of the
question for two reasons. In the first
place. We had decided to start before day
break. and therefore there would not be
time. and. further we were heartily
slad to get rid Of the prisoners anyway
Though much disappointed. Spider
ssigned himself so gracefully to the
Soss OF his prisoners that the foreman
potted him on the back approvingly,
myipg that after all he had seen worse
boys than Spider. who might. IL he be-
haved himself and worked hard, make
. very decent COW puncher In the course
q 20 or 30 yeara In the meantime he
bad better roll himself up In his blan.
bets and 50 TO sleep. Spider obeyed. In
= very few minutes. with the exception
q ths sentry. who kept solitary watch
~sn The edge OF the cliff, the camp was
Glsepins
I Il was still dark when this ssntry
Vaked ma
1T osly wants two hours er daylight
now." he said az sat up and began to
rub my eyes "Breakfas' is mos ready.
a I got ter wake up the rest er these
here men How wish had buglsr'
He had no bugle. however. 90 be began
- roar the call OF the reveille with the
words that the soldiers have put to 1t
Tho corprais worse than the private,
The scrgeants worse than tho corp raj
The iuds are worse than the sergeant
An the captains the worst Of ALI
cant got em up
can't get EN- mp.
cans get ON mp In the mornin.
In q moment the camp was astir and
humming with voices The men were
al dressed when they lay down. so that
their toilets we're completed when they
had rolled mp In their blankets and. il
they felt inclined washed their hands
and faces
The bacon and coffee served ont by
the BALLET Girl soon vanished. The men
devoured them standing or squatting on
the ground wherever they happened to