Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1901-08-10

fish are done" he sighed
Bessie had never known a bow like
Pierre. He was innocence itself i'm his
appearance and talk. He was hand
some. bright and interesting. He
was polite and thoughtful And above
all he was scholar in the things that
make country boys nearer and dearer
10 Mother Nature than the lads who
| grow up on the pavements He was a
lover of plants and wild animals. He
Knew every BIRD in the country by
! sight. and could tell their calls as far
as he could hear them
i used TO know affox that had a den
w mere somewhere. said Pierre
as ne placed broad Eastwood leaf
with six nicely Drowned trout on il in
front of Bessie. He used to come
down and steal chickens in the snow
storms. He would roll over and over
in the snow till he was so white that
YOU couldn't tell him from the drifts
little way off. and then he would
walk right into the barns and pull
down pullet under our noses. He
WAS Il shrewd one. ! was going to
But he suddenly stopped and turned
pale. He had looked around behind
the stone. and as he did so he gaZed
down the barrel Of a heavy army re-
volver held in the hands Of Flatfoot
O'Ericn.
Don't We stir fer your life. or I'll
.Snoot We both. Want ter capture
Flatfoot OBrien. do We? Well he's
captured you
The young folks looked at each other
helplessly. They knew that the rufiian
would keep his word. He was a des-
dirty and unshaven.
Coming forward he threw q pair of
handouts at their feet and told them
to put them on their wrists. Stacking
Bessie's left hand to Pierre's right.
There was no alternative. though
Pierre was for fighting the rascal and
being shot, if must be. in defense of his
girl friend. She settled it by putting
the shackle upon his wrist herself.
Now. come with me-" said Flatfoot,
and led the way up the brookside.
They climbed hour after hour. il
seemed to the children. They said
nothing. OBrien kept up rattle OF
conversation. telling them that he
could never be taken prisoner. ana
that certainly not alive. He had
too many good hiding places. Had food
enough hidden in the hills to last five
years. too.
At last they came to a clearing.
once long years before a settler had
cut the trees and burned over the
ground. He had built him Il house and
dug a Well. and ii was prosperous
little farm. q place where a woman
worked and sang all day in the farm
er's kitchen and bright faced children
romped over the grass. But now the
buildings We're burned. the apple trees
We're growing wild. and raspberry
bushes grew waist deep all over the
place. Lonely and almost ghostly it
looked as the three walked out into ii
IN the late Afternoon sunshine. Flat
foot had told them he intended to
hold them as hostages to secure his
own pardon.
Into the center of the clearing STROBE
the smuggler. and turned upon them
near the edge of the old Well.
Taking a long rope from the bushes
he tied it around Bessies waist. and
in spite of her struggles and screams,
commenced to lower her into the well.
Just as he was pushing her over the
edge Pierre. whose. hand was freed by
the unlocking of the cuff. threw him
self upon the griZzled outlaw and
fierce battle followed. The hardy
young fellow fought like a tiger. The
old man was surprised. He had eX-
pected the youth to be strong. but had
| not looked for such maniacal fury in
| the BOYS onslaught. Had Flatfoot
not drawn his revolver and struck
Pierre a blow with the end the tus-
| sci might have resulted in the capture
| of the smuggler after all.
AS it was Pierre fell back uncon
scious. and Bessie seeing the end of
the fight. and her own predicament,
| tainted too. With whispered oaths
| the outlaw lowered them sinsly
| into the well. pulling up the rope and
covering the top over with rotten planks
| afterward Then he went to the weed
grown cellar and taking up flat rock
from the bottom displayed fight OF
stairs down which he climbed. lower
| ing the rock over the entrance after
| him and striking a match to light a
lauD that swung from the top of lit
tie room or dungeon.
Here the smuggler sat down to eat
canned meats and to wash them down
| with fiery whiskey from a bottle. The
| room was one of his many secret
hiding places throughout the country.
He had prepared for just such hid
ing from Justice as he had been obliged
| 10 seek now And. too. ii was not the
first time that the officers had followed
| him to the mountains and tried des-
| reratelv to capture him. At such
/ times he hid till Il new sheriff was
| elected. or the wholesale house IN
another state for which he worked
could get time to send man down to
| Maine with money enough to make
things smooth for the outlaw. Then
| FIatfoot returned to the towns and
| walked unmoIested among the con-
stable and sheriffs, and was again
startling the watchdogs along the
county road at midnight.
He drank so much whiskey with his
| sumner that it made him sleepy. and
soon he was nodding in his chair and
the moths that had dropped through
the hole above where he had entered
were buZZing around the lamp in q
| swarm.
| In tho meantime, the cold. dry air al
the hottom of the old well had revived
Bessie and she sat up. 1t was perfectly
| match nF ijpbf tha