Middletown transcript., 1904-07-30

| souIiys ALL ucdu SICK Oi lOUS. neIQ
my last for eighteen years and then they
turn me down for a He stopped
short. Now am blabbing what / ought
not, he added. You may stand up in
court some day and swear away my life
If run along like this.
Not me. / said
do not believe you are the kind that
would, he said huskily. And anyway
you would not if you had spark of graft
TODD. / had my gun on you all along and
it would have been money in my pocket
to have settled you out of lland-for if ever
there was man as was not wanted around
here-it is you.
am sorry to be in the way. | said,
but can easily make that all right.
glanced up the hill.
Where in thunder do you come from,
anyway !? he asked susplciously.
explained briefly about the picnic
You would have almost done better to
have stayed on, he remarked, with grim
humor.
You must let us out of this, I said {.
1t is always the lonker-on that gets shot,
you know
1t would be tarnatiou silly thing for
me to do, he said. Can't you see how l
am fixed?
There is our side of it, too! l said.
Then he banged the butt of his rife ON
the road.
All right. Slope +! he said. l do not
ask you to paw the air with gratitood, or
swear by your dead mother, or that !!
But it is agreed, ain:t it would be stink
ing mean to give me away?
l never did such thing in my life. I
said, and do not mean to begin with you'll
And you will keep her party mouth
shut, he added, indicating Miss Jayes.
| can do that for myself, returned my
companion with unexpected spirit 1
do not need any man to show me how;
and what is more would not do it any,
way, because you have treated us splen-
didlyl
The bandit smiled under his mask.
I wish you and the little lady the best
of luck, he said, and if you ever find
silver tea service asserting on your front
piazza, you will know it is wedding
present from yours truly!
We-will be glad to accept it. said, as
heartily as could manage, and enjoying
Miss Jaye's confusion. My name is En-
melin-Roger Emmelin-and when |
said l was grateful, 1 want you to remem-
Der that / mean it |!
The world would be better place if
there was more folks like you, he said
sadly, offering me his enormous hand.
shook it cordially and my companion did
the same. We loved that bandit
Happy to have met you, he said, and
with that We left him standing in the
middle of the road looking after us, while
we scooted up that hill like the fellow
with the three league boots. l never saw
woman run as fast as Miss Jayes. 1t
was like the hart on the emountains-only
faster. We had come down dog-tired,
but we went up like young racers, in
moutll-open, heart-beating, suffocating
hurry, like people catching the last train
We had reached the crossroads and
had thrown ourselves full length on the
grass, in the very desperation of fatigue,
when there suddenly rang out far below
US the shattering report of rifle. We |
need cur breath and our hands frightened |
on each ather's. The report was follow
ed BY Two others in quick succession, and |
then there was little fierce rattle like a
lot Of ire-crackers going off undsr bar
rel.
We sat up instantly and listened; but |
the silence remained unbroken as our
bursting hearts licked the seconds. NY
put her arms around me and
began to cry like a child ON my breast.
I am afraid I was scarcely any more COL
lected. We were pretty far spent, both
of us; things like that had not happened
to us before; and We had grown pauieky
with running.
do not know how long we stayed
there. 1t seemed like hours before we
heard the rumble OF the stage and saw it
appear in cloud of dust, rattling towards
Ils at lively clip. We ran into the road
and waved our arms for it to stop, Ella
saying if | went alone they might mis-
lake me for another bandit. Even as it
was the darn fool messenger pointed his
gun at me, and saw hands holding pis-
ols out of the windows The driver was
quicker to understand, and, bringing his
eaders on their launches, welcomed us
ooisterouly.
Pile in, boys and girls! he cried. This
$ my busy day and all is welcome, and
+ you want dead robber You can find
lin down the road, and with that he
ashed up his six horses, and headed us
It tearing galIop for Red Rock.