Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1902-09-17
DAILY SHORT STORY
A Girl Who Knew
More Than Six Men
tOriginaL.l

| ger brought out an iron bound box and
placed it under the drivers feet.
You'll have to take it through with
out any one to help in case you're held
up. There's no one here to so with
you
'AIl right. The company will have
to take its chances this time. One
man is 10 match for road agents"
Dan Sparkling had learned that unless
backed by strong guard it is I'M
wise to oppose desperate men. How
ever, there had been no trouble on the
line for long while, and he expected
to get the treasure through safely
He was disappointed. About o'clock
at night, on passing through'a wood,
driving at n brisk gait, as he usually
did in dark places, head appeared
above the bushes beside the road, and
a pair of arms waved for him to stop.
| II any word was spoken, it was
drowned by the rattle of the stage and
| the pounding of the horses hoofS. Be
| fore Dan could rein in he had passed
! the figure and hoped he could get
| away, but q bullet whiStled over his
head, and, believing that another, fired
with 4 truer aim, would follow, he
tried to rein in his horses, at the same
| time seiZing the express box and
| throwing it into the wood. The horses
had struck n down grade, and although
Dan put on the brakes, he was unable
| to stop them until he reached the bot
tom. Then, not hearing anything of
the road agent, he concluded to drive
| on.
m hOllr I1fpF fRplInR
very downcast at the prospect of re-
| porting the loss, blaming himself for
his haste in throwing out the box, and
the company for risking so much mon
ey without u guard. half a dozen men
stepped into the road before him. Each
one of his horses was taken by the bri-
| die, a man held him covered with
rifle, while the remaining man went
through the coach. There were no pas
sengers, but this did not disappoint
| the road agents, who were after the
express box. Not finding it under the
| drivers feet, the man searched the
boot in the rear. then angrily asked
Dan:
"Where is it?'
''This is the second time I've been
held up tonight. The box was taken
a few miles below"
You stop that lynn said the rob-
Der, AN tell me where the treasure is,
or I'll pump some lead into you"
This was merely threat. The treas
/ ure was not there. and the men be-
came convinced of Dams story of the
previous robbery. After taking minute
directions as to the place where it had
been dropped they permitted Dan to
| I,.ix l,t u i'm
to Il village. where he telegraphed
back news of the double robbery. a
posse was gathered and started at
once for the scene of the loss. Reach
ing the wood described by Dan, they
found no one. Believing that the box
had been picked up by one of the
| band. they divided into two sections
! for pursuit. each taking Il road leading
| in different directions. One of the sec
| tions about o'clock i'm the morning,
seeing a flash of light in a thicket.
went there and surrounded party of
six men and n girl. They We're taken
| after short skirmish, as their cap
| tors were three times their number.
| Unfortunately the express box was
not found among them.
The next day Dan Sparkling identified
the men as the road agents, and they
were brought into court for prelimi-
nary examination. The justice piled
them with questions. hoping to gain
some light as to the treasure box. The
only part of their story that they
agreed in was that they had not seen
the box. The judge was about to send
them back to Jail when it occurred to
him that he might get something out
of the girl.
You don't look like n girl to be
caught in such company" he said.
I'm not" she replied shortly.
"WeT?"
| 'Well?" she repeated.
What have you to say in the mat
ter?"
Il haven't much to say, but what 1
have is of a good deal of Importance"
"Well, then, why haven't you said
it?"
You didn't ask mcr'
Say it now
I'm the daughter of John Bowling,
the storekeeper six miles down the
pike. ! was out on the creek yester
day afternoon and went to sleep under
some bushes. 1 was awakened by
hearing some men talking and, open
ing my eyes, saw two of these men
sitting on the bank. L wasn't long in
learning that they were planning to rob
last nights coach. 1 kept quiet until
they had gone on. 1 knew l could
head off the coach by walking two
miles to the road. Taking pops gun,
L started, waited by the road and
hailed the driver. He didn't stop, so
fired n shot over his head to catch
his attention. Then he threw out
box. Later on was leaving the place
when these men rode up and took me.
They had a lot of questions to ask
about some one robbing the stage that
had gone by and wanted to know if