The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1902-08-05
BY IzOLA FoRREsTEF

and there wasn't any water, and the
baby got SICK
He stopped and looked of over the
way he had driven.
"Then what" asked Tom bluntly,
staring up at the stranger with the
frank curiosity of ten years.
"Then one night they both died." re-
turned Coggins gently, down there
near the river, bout thirty miles or so.
I'd have stayed there too, if it hadn't
been for this one'' He twisted q
loose curl around his finger thought
fully Names Sue" he added
Mothers name too"
So Sue came to Rainbow Valley, and
she and her pink sunbonnet were loved
more than Tom and his yellow dog.
In ten years the boom struck the val
ley. Old Jerry Holmes found the vein,
and they call him the copper king in
New York now BY the time the full
news Of the discovery reached the
country he owned every acre of the
claim and was buying town lots on
Main street. From end to end the val
J ley filed, and fortunes were easy. A
! hotel rose where Holmes general store
had stood, and there came also a rail-
road and theater and three churches
and public fountain with red gerani-
UNI beds around 1t, splashed in the
center of Main street where Toms
yellow dog had sprawled.
But the little Coggins shack on the
side of Big Eagle remained the same,
and from end to end of the town Sue
and her pink sunbonnet were known
and loved. 1t was larger sunbonnet
now and pinker one, and the face be-
meath was rosy and round checked and
dimpled, but there were the same loose
blond curls and the brown eyes that
had belonged to the tired baby girl who
had come up from Nebraska long ago.
Coggins was quiet and nonprogress-
i've as ever. When the electric car
was put on between the mines and the
foot of Main street. he went to Holmes,
got the running of it and was content
ed.
Every day when the motor car made
its noon trip a dot Of bright pink
flashed out at one window. There was
little stool which stood beside the
controller box, and there Sue would
perch, watching Coggins as he worked
the lever with steady hand while he
whistled Dixie Land" and all the
way from the mines to the depot the
men would raise their heads to watch
for the flash of pink. and they called
her Sunbonnet Sue.
The big strike came in the fall of
1899. When 800 workers faced old
Holmes with the demands of a distant
ring of labor agitators, he laughed and
told them they had quit for good, so
far as he was concerned. That was
after they had tried to fire the mines
and had burned the freight sheds along
the track. When the rumor spread lat
er that a gang of Swedes and Poles
had been wired for from the east, the
old crowd started for the mines to find
Holmes
When the long line of men passed
out Of town, Sue stood watching the
dark masses fade away into the pur-
pie hill distances. Over in a cane seat
ed chair, tipped back lazily against the
Kitchen wall, sat Coggins, smoking.
'"They won't hurt any one will they,
fatherr Sue asked anxiously.
isn't any one there for them to hurt"
replied Jack contentedly. 81 guess they
haven't any dynamite anyway. They'll
Just walk around and talk"
Sue turned from him thoughtfully.
The faces of the men had looked as
though they intended doing more than
walking around and talking. All at
once a shadow fell in front of the
Kitchen door. 1t was Mrs. Holmes,
bareheaded and white faced as she
had run down from the hotel at the
first alarm
where's your father Sue? she
asked breathlessly.
Coggins rose.
Fright here. Mrs. Holiness" he said.
whats up?"
"Oh, I'm so gladw she exclaimed
"Jerry's gone to meet the troops from
Cheyenne, but there's Tom and dozen
more up there at the mines. They've
got a lot of dynamite, and the boys
don't even know they're coming. Jerry
told Tom to stand guard until he came
with the troops. There is no way but
the motor line"
Jack looked beyond her to where Sue
stood, alert and eager eyed.
"She's only got me-" he began, but
Sue shook her head at him reproach-
fully.
do you think I'd stay here alone?
OF course not" She had her sunbon-
net In her hand, untying the tangled
strings quickly. Wen go, father and
l. Mrs. Holiness" she added to the lat
ter. You just watch for the troops
and send them on quick, and Wen look
out for Tom and the rest. Won't we,
fatherT
Coggins entered the little house and
returned with his hat and coat
wonder If any Of them are watch
ing the track" Coggins said presently
as the car swung along the track and
up Big Eagles first incline. Sue sat in
her old place beside him.
'"There are splendid places to hide
all along here" she said. One mile
was passed The car swirled merrily
around Black Rock bend 1t was
ClAeAe3Al HUN lnClO
the mountain side Coggins was whis- |
ting his favorite, Dixie Land" and |
to Sue the ride seemed only the same !
as those she had taken so often. 1t |
was hard to realize that the lives Of SO
many people depended on the speed OF |
the little yellow car crawling like some
strange new animal steadily along the |
south shoulder of Big Eagle, but all at |
once there came sharp report, and |
something struck the woodwork above
her head.
They're up the track" Coggins said.
Lean down low, dearie. away from /
the window. 1 saw heads bobbing /
over those bushes"
Another shot buried itself some
where in the window casing, and a
mans voice shouted:
"Slow up, there, Cogginsl We want
that carr
Jack drew his breath hard and
glanced back to see that Sue was safe.
Half a mile more to the mines, and
perhaps every foot of the way an am
bush! He smiled grimly and loosened
the lever in his hand. although not
hundred feet away man stood in the
eapteg Of the track with a Ieveled Dis