Windham County reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1901-1906, 1902-05-16
THE PEDDLER'S RUSE

y ike 10 lell IL SOIllelllleS just 10 Teullu
myself that the worst thing man cal
have in this world is hot, obstinate
:, temper.
you see, came to this coast sool
', after the gold fever broke out and set
tied down In the Santa Barbara vale.
) below here, ranching. l was widowe
3 even then and had brought with nj
: from the states my only child, daugh
ter past seventeen She was a pretty
girl. if l do say it, and being as goot
as she was pretty you can Imagine
was quite wrapped up in her. OF
J course | was anxious to keep her with
: me, and if not that at least l looked
for her to do something better than
fall in love with peddler."
"And did she?"
| "Yes. You see in those days the
; country was full Of young fellows who
had struck out for themselves and were
trying to get start by carrying knick'
knacks around from one mining camp
to another. Some Of them We're lively
chaps enough and well educated, but
was fresh from the states, with all the
eastern prejudices, and it almost drove
me wild when Nellie told me she want
ed to marry a young fellow who
brought his pack through our district
good deal oftener than the trade
seemed to require. l was hot temper
ed fool in those days, so l stormed,
threatened, locked Nellie up for week
and sent word to her lover that l had
loaded my gun for wildcats and ped
dlers. One day when I came back from
cattle sale she was missing. | chased
her couple of days, but they had TAX
en- to the woods, and it was of no use
After awhile | got letter from Frisco
and | wrote back saying that disown-
ed her and that he had better keep ont
of the range of my rife.
zone evening after terrible rain
I storm a peddler came to my house and
asked for shelter for the night. He
was a thin, weak looking fellow, with
his face covered with Il huge, ragged
beard. He carried on his back an enor
mously long and heavy pack and SEEM
ed so exhausted with his tramp
through the mire that l hadn't the
heart to do more than order him off
the place He seemed all broke up
when he found l wouldn't even give
him bunch of straw in the stable and
no other house within twelve miles.
Instead Of complaining, however, he
merely begged that l would let him
leave his pack, which, he said, contain
ed goods of value, under shelter from
the rain. | finally consented to this.
So, as | had sworn none of his trade
should ever cross my threshold, / car
ried his pack inside, while its owner
limped off to crawl under some bush or
other.
Something about the man reminded
me Of Nellie's husband little. How
ever, locked and barred all the doors
and windows as usual for some road
agents had been around those parts
about that time and had stopped and
robbed several ranches, and. as | told
you, | was all alone. Somehow |
couldn't go to sleep when after that
went to bed. After tossing around for
awhile | got up and sat by the fire,
brooding over my trouble and trying
not to think of the poor chap shivering
out there in the cold and rain some
where looked at his pack sitting up
in the room and wondered what made
it so long. AS / watched 1t fancied
l saw it move"
"Saw it moveW
Exactly l wouldn't believe my own
eyes at first, but after watching intent
ly for awhile | distinctly saw the front
of a hand pressed against the canvas
from the inside. Like flash then |
understood the whole thing. The ped
dler was one of the road agents gang,
and knowing | had considerable mon
ey about the house, they had adopted
that plan for smuggling one of their
crew inside the house. After | had
gone to sleep the fellow inside could
let in the rest and finish the job.
walked quietly across the room, took
my gun from the antlers, knelt down
few feet from the pack. aimed square
in the center and pulled the trigger"
$50 on" Iaurmured the listener, with
a shudder.
But the gun didn't go off, contin-
ued the landlord, clearing his throat. {
"The nipple was rusty and wouldn't
work, so l laid down the rife Just
then | saw ghost. The pack opened,
and | saw sticking out of its top the .
curly yellow hair of my Nellie when
she was little tot of four. The shock
staggered me so that l sank on my
knees. l wiped my eyes and wondered
If l had not gone crazy. | was almost
certain of it when the ghost stretched
out pair of chubby white arms and
said
"'How do, grandpaT"
"Ah." said the guest, with a relieved
Sigh, Il begin to see And what did
you do then?"
81 don't exactly know" said the
andlord softly, but If there is any
hing that will bend a stiff, stubborn
leck quicker than the arms of a little
.hild I'd like to know what it is. put
he tired little prisoner down by the
ire, opened the door and held out my
rms"
"And the mother"
eyes" nodded the landlord. "They
we're both there, and, mister, I guess
hats the end of my story" And the
Id man wiped his eyes. you must
xcuse me, but that was wet even
ng, and somehow l haven't got quite