Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1904-01-13
So cautiously that not even rustling

1GA1 DeLTay0u ulul, joe IdlSeu LIS QedU
and peered through the bushes. He
saw three men lying asleep, the buck
board standing at the side Of the road,
and the horses unhitched and picketed
by it.
His first thought was to slip the
stake ropes and stampede the horses;
but he realized that the sleepers might
be awakened by the plunging animals,
and the thought Of what they might do
in their anger made Joe feel lonesome
for the first time.
AS silently as fox stalking a wild
fowl, Joe skirted the cleared patch and
made for the river bottom. He was
soon beside the Kitty mare. There was
an anxious moment when he was
afraid Kitty would greet him with a
neigh. but she only raised her head
from the tall grass and put out her
nose to be petted.
He had ridden her bareback as Of
| ten as with q saddle, and in moment
he was on her, making his way, by a
wide detour, past the sleeping men.
! AS soon as he was beyond earshot he
gave Kitty her head and sped away.
! His idea had been that all he had
to do was to tell Gonzalez Of Lamp
sons plot. Now the words Of Lamp
son himself occurred to him. Nobody
| is supposed to know the money Is there
but the agent at Lordsburg and the
superintendent" It was the company's
! To n% I0Hr-
even to the freighter.
| At last a sparkle far ahead showed
him the embers Of a dying camp fire,
! and soon he was near enough to make
out the big prairie schooners. He had
| found Gonzalez outfit.
| The voice of timidity whispered that
he might discharge his commission
with safety to himself. All he had to
! do was to deliver his message to the
freighter as it was given him, turn
round, and gallop back home and say
nothing Of what he had overheard by
the river The company would lose
| twenty-five thousand dollars, but no.
body would blame him.
But another voice-the voice Of duty
spoke louder, insisting that taking
care of himself was not all that he
was there for.
1.-THE boss wants you to hurry up; he
needs that -four" said Joe to the head
freighter, when he had reused him.
Gonzalez grumbled at being awak-
ened for such message; but he was
too sleepy to blame the boy, and fin
ally told him he had better spend the
night with them.
"I'll sleep in the wagons if you don't
mind said Joe, to whom plan had
occurred.
Just as you like" yawned the
freighter. There's a big bale of
blankets back in the trailer"
So Joe tethered Kitty to the wheel
Of the trailer and crawled in on top
Of the blankets-a rough bale covered
with burlap and laced with ropes.
Before dawn he got cup Of coffee
from the camp cook, borrowed sad
die, and with bundle rolled in his coat
and tied it behind starting on his long
ride home, while Gonzalez and his crew
were yoking the oxen to the wagons.
Five miles up the road Joe met
Lampson and the two big men rolling
along in the blackboard. His heart
stopped beating until he was past, but
the discharged bookkeeper merely wav-
| ed him a greeting.
| Joe galloped on. He felt safe enough
now to chuckle at the scene that would
be enacted back there, when the rob
bers, after carrying off the heavy bale,
would open it and find nothing
Kitty was very tired mare when
she brought Joe into town that night.
The superintendent hailed the boy
as he rode up to the office Of the cop
per company: Did you find Con
| Zalez?
Eyes, sir" shouted Joe. "He said
he'd hurry" Then Joe pulled his coat
| from behind the saddle, handed over
the bundle of bank-notes, and blurted
out his adventures.
It wasn't much of a trick to unite
the bale, sir" he said, land I tied it
up again while Gonzalez thought I was
| sleeping; but" he added, Elm afraid
the company loses the blankets"
Its willing to lose them," said the
superintendent.
The superintendent talked the matter
over with the manager, and at first
they thought one Of the biggest bank
notes in the package was the proper
reward for the messenger whose pres
ence of mind had saved the money.
But when the superintendent mention
ed it to his wife, she gave him bet
| Ter plan, and that is how it came about
that for several years the item Of a
boys schooling appeared on the ex-
pense account Of the copper company,
with the bills for freight and smelling.
This happened twenty years ago.
If you happen to be interested in the
story and ever go out to Arizona, the
| r;y,to ~p&