Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1902-06-19
Prove III he shouted

uftutys RGhct 1Oet P1- WI
swear not TO harm yon. | can ex,
plain
"Yes, I think trust your swear.
ing. sneered Suners. under his
breath. Nevertheless. he stuck the
gun in his pocket.
well, he said he forgot 10 be an
CRY when he saw how clever their
scheme was. The man rolled up
some strips Of rag carpet Ia the
middle of the floor was q large dot
of white paint. One line Of paint
ran from the dot about castof north
east to the wall, a second almost due
west TO the wall, a third south, Of
soathEast % The val. I'D pace
between the FIRST line and the sec
ond was marked Iowa. that be-
tween the second and third, Mis-
souri,, and the remaining section
Illinois. The seat where Sommers
had sat to drink his whisky was in
Iowa.
/ am o surveyor, said Dolph.
These lines are absolutely correct.
/ can show you an official chart.
Damn your chartr answered
SOmmers, striding to the door and
slamming it after him.
Sometimes things happen queer
ly in this world. At that time |
was sheriff Of Lee county, Iowa,
and, strangely enough, Somners had
not been gone an hour when knock
ed at the cabin door. Like the 9th
ers, had warrant, and special in
structions to be careful.
We'll, boys, sat there from three
o'clock until FIVE, and never spent a
worse two hours. Dozens of people
were in and out of the shanty. Ev-
eryone Of them had drinks and paid
for them before my eyes, but when-
ever man intimated that he was
thirsty, Romiette, with swing of
that black braid and beckon of her
finger, would say, Just come over
into Missouri and I'll give you
drink, or, meaningly, with pert
glance at me, You can't drink i'm
Iowa today boys, but you can in IL
linois. Then everybody would fol-
low her glance and the laugh would
be on me.
AT last the skaters thinned out,
and. as there was plainly nothing TO
be accomplished, I left, disgusted.
But what could / do?
To go back to the other fellows.
In the course OF time, Blake took
tumble to common sense, and tele-
graphed to Kahoka. Somers had of
course gone straight back to Car
thage. | went to Keokuk and wired
West Point particulars. My right
hand man up there happened to have
sense enough to take in the whole
situation, so he kept the wires hot
between Carthage, Kahoka and West
Point all night long, with the result
that the next morning about FIVE,
Somers was ordered to Keokuk to
consult with Blake and myself. We
had a big argument. Both the
others wanted to start for the shanty
right away, for fear the outfit would
leave. ! held that, If we went so
early, they d see US and be sure to
clear out. Finally the other two
came TO my way of thinking, so that
afternoon we drove to the junction,
and, leaving our rig at a house on
the bank, joined the skaters on the
river.
By way of disguise, all three of
US wore the eldest. toughest clothes
we could find. Blake had shaved
his heavy beard and mustache,
Somers had put on q beard, and !
had clipped my mustache short. We
hardly knew each other. We de-
cided TO go in rather late, and not
move until we had a clear field,
with no outsiders TO interfere. Then
we were to act quickly. and in con-
cert, just as the circumstances de-
manded.
When we entered there were a
half dozen men in the shanty. Ro-
miette was, as usual, serving them
from the table. Dolph had his
fayorite seat in Iowa. Blake went
aud stood close to the girl, in Mis-
souri,. / walked around into Iowa.
Somers, quite naturally, put his
hands toward the fire. meanwhile
standing in Illinois, OF course.
Sounds funny. doesn't il? All the
men were drinking. We followed
suit. The first time we paid for our
whiskey, both father and daughter
watched us closely. After that they
seemed less suspicious. As the six
men left the cabin, Romiette stood
at the door, joking with them. Blake
and / were talking TO DOlph. and
Somers was still toasting his fingers.
Presently she latched the door
and turned toward Somers. Quick
as fash all drew our revolvers.
But they were fully as quick. There