Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1905-07-14

wondered a Eri,' az the sharp chances
the shifty eyed chap from the Colo
RADIO gravel beds darted at the bundle
OF money.
Held the Best Hand.
when the train had crept along to
within ten miles Of Trinidad 1t came
to a short, grinding stop, but, as these
stops had been frequent during the
night, for no particular reason, we paid
no attention 10 ii, and went ahead with
the game. Three OF us had our cards
OF the board, and ii remained for the
new man to make his play. He threw
his hand lace downward on the table.
put his hands In his lap, n leaned
back with a sort OF sigh.
Seems TO me ! amt havin' no sort
o. luck at this we're game he said in
al aggrieved sort of drawl that was al
most pathetic, Hain't had nary a
hand wuth anythin' for more than a
dozen rounds. But they amt no use In
kickin', is they, fellers? Anyhow, I'm
not all up yit when it comes to that.
Come 4 think OF IL, / got a hand right
here now that l reckon ought t be good
in any company. What do you feilers
think of it?'
1--WE didn't do any thinking at all,
but our six hands went right into the
air just as il they were all being pulled
by the same marionette string. The
new mans hand-rather, his pair of
hands-would, as he had observed,
TAX on the pot In any company. His
edge on the situation consisted of q
pair of steel blue barreled forty-fives
that he had suddenly jerked out with
his last question. He held one of them
steadily leveled on a spot right between
my eyes, and the other he slowly
famed from side to side so as TO cover
my two companions with one gun. AS
/ say, we weren't In any frame of mind
to answer questions or to do anything
yin the way OF Analysing the situation.
We did just what it was up to us to
do, and that was to point to the zenith
with the ten fingers each of us had
been born with.
kind o. onnery way of doin' a job,
f~ellers, / admit said our friend with
the pair of forty-fiyes, but o all look
sporty enough not to be particular how
the things pulled off, so longs you've
Jes' nachully got t. dig up all O. y'r
coin an gilt junk, anyhow. That about
right, fellers?'
None of us felt laxative enough to
make any reply. Moreover, we were
interested in a newcomer who suddenly
appeared in the doorway Of our COM
IoA iANAA a wac " AOA III
chap, with a pair of guns in his belt,
and an exceedingly ~businesslike air.
Rounded Up.
"tGot EN- rounded up all o. r., / see,'
he said to the lank man who had us
covered. Looks like a purity good set
o perducers, too, L unexpectedly that
broken-nosed boy yonder with tn gig
lamps all over him. noddfng in my .di-
rection. The joy 1 inwardly felt over
L. 49, 49,, ~A~-. ,vANN Allzl~r
him in was neutraliZed by the hostil-
ity that surged over me because of his
reference TO a thing that was at that
time a sore point with me-this
smashed proboscis that a boy gave me
with a Skinny stick when / was a kid.
Stand up, ombreys, n at a time
went on the new arrival, with the bus
inesslike tone OF a merchant giving
instructions to his clerks. His Gig
Lamplets first, as bein' prob'ly the on'y
one O. tn three that's got all o. his
jools out O. hook nodding at me again.
You needn't bother t drop non o.
y'r mitts jes' yet
He needn't nave said that, for /,
for one, wasn't bothering about n
such a thing. l was just picturing to
myself what a jay he would ook just
about four second after trying 1t on
If he should happen to pass n Of my
paste s~parklers over a pawn-shop
counter, and / had to fight to keep from
laughing aloud over the thought. /
stood up, neatly covered all the time
by the lank, shifty-eyed chap with
whom / had been gayly playing cards
only a few moments before. Then the
chunky chap went through me. He
made a corking good job of it, too.
He even made me take off my O&&ord
ties.
"'Y' see, ombrey,' he said, in ex-
PLANTATION of this, "a boy that's got so
much shiny stuff shown outside his
clothes is h'ble a hull lot { have more
of 1t tucked ava out o. sight, Special
ly while he's a-ridin' On tn Sanity Fee;
an, as it amt much trouble t me. no
how, an / amt o~verlookin' no bets jes'
now, not none, I'll give yo' all what's
known al a fine-tooth rakin'.'
II had to cough a lot to hold in my
chuckles while he unscrewed my studs,
and when he hauled off the phony rings
/ wanted very much to be alone so I
could roll aroun and howl with very
glee over my own cleverness. Besides
the jewelry he got only SIS in none
from me. He dumped the stuff into q
white canvas bag as he relieved me
of it.
fixed in that I-call-to-heavenko-wit-
ness position, and made room for my
two friends after I'd been turned in
side out. Neither of them looked as II
he enjoyed the thing at all. There was
400 in the roll OF bills that had been
produced by the one who had given
me a bill for my ten silver dollars.
We'll, when the two bandits backed
out OF the compartment, inc a series
of shots outside a little later on indi-
Gated that they were signaling to the
engineer that he could pull the lever
and let 'er GO, / Rugged myself as 1
had never performed that joyful stunt
before.
Too Good to Keep.
When I got to Denver and put up
at a regular hotel / was tickled almost
foolish when a newspaper reporter who
had heard that / was in the big hold
up came up to my room to interview
me about it. I told him the whole
story, dwelling with particular en-
phasis upon how crafty I had been
in substituting paste for my good blue
and white diamonds before taking that
%a@A
49, HIC