Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-04-16
Rounded Up.

hOuuQeo " u.
Got 'em rounded up all o. K, see.' he
said to the lank man who had US covered.
Looks like purity good set O. perducers,
too t me-'spec' lilly that broken-nosed boy
yonder with tn gig-lamps all over him,
nodding in my direction. The joy l in
wardly felt over the way my phony gems
were taking him in was neutrahzed by the
hostility 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 Skinny
stick when l was a kid.
Stand up, ombreys. one at a time went
on the new arrival. with the businesslike
tone of merchant giving instructions to
his clerks. His GigLamplets first as be-
in 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 none
o. y'r mitts jes yet
He needn't have said that for l, for one
wasn't botherng about any such a thing
/ was just picturing to myself what jay
he would look just about four SECONDS after
trying it on if he should happen to pass one
of my paste sparklers over paWn-shop
counter, and l had TO fight to keep from
laughing aloud over the thought. l stood
up neatly covered all the time by the lank
shiftyeyed chap with whom L had been
gayly playing cards only few moments
before. Then the chunky chap went
through me. He made corklng good JOB
of it. too. He even made me take or my
oxford ties.
..Y' see, ombrey,' he said, in explanation
of this, "a boy that's got so much shiny
stuff shown outside his clothes is II bic a
hull lot t. have more of 1t tucked away out
O. sight specially while he's a-ridln on
TIL Sanity Fee; an, as it amt much trou-
BILE t me, nohow an | amt overlookin no
bets jes' now not none, III give yo all
what's known as fine-tooth rakin
Il had to cough lot to hold In my
chuckles while he unscrewed my studs, and
when he hauled down my hands, one by
one, to pull off the phony rings L wanted
very much to be alone so that L could roll
around and howl with very glee over my
own cleverness. Besides the jewelry he got
only SIS in money from me. He dumped
the stuff into a white canvas bag as he re-
lieved me of it.
Il stepped aside, with my arms still fixed
in that I-call- heaven-to-w witness position,
and made room for my two friends after
been turned inside out. Neither OF them
looked as if he enjoyed the thing at all
There was 81 AGO in the roll of bills that
had been produced by the one VINO had
given me a bill for my ten silver dollars
well, when the two bandits backed out
of the compartment, and series of shots
outside little later on indicated that they
were signaling to the engineer that he could
null the lever and let 'er 60 l Rugged my
self as l had never performed that joyful
stunt before.
Too Good to Keep.
when l got to Denver and put up at a
regular hotel l was tickled almost foolish
when a newspaper reporter who had heard
that l was in the big hold-up came up to
my room to interview me about it. l told
him the whole story, dwelling with particu-
lar emphasis upon how crafty l had been
in substituting paste for my good blue and
white diamonds before taking that Santa
Fe train at Albuquerque. The reporter
made a rafting humorous narrative of 1t.
and / sent a marked copy of the paper to
my firm In New York. They patted me on
the back by return mail for my foxiness,
and voluntarily added 1 per cent to my
commission.
Il got my good jewelry and samples and
money at the Denver express office all
right, and when / had the good stones
plastered all over me again l felt, PIN
headed youth that l was, like a four-time
winner again.
About three days after arriving in Den
yer 1 engaged horse and buggy along to-
ward evening and drove out alone to a road
house and general music-and-fun resort in