, 1905-04-08
CHAPTER Ill.
Startling Revelations.

We will now suppose twenty-four
hours to have passed since the scene
narrated in the last chapter.
The cleaning is beginning to gloam.
1t began to look as though if some
thing were not done tor Pumpkin Jiln
pretty previously, he would pass with
a gentle, gliding movement up the
hume.
He was growing fainter hour by
hour, and the extreme torpidity of his
liver, gave rise to grave apprehen-
sions on the part of his gentle guar
dian.
His leg also gave him extreme pain
and cause for uneasiness, to say the
least. 1t had swollen to about the
size of a -four barrel, and was still
swelling as we go to press.
He opened his eyes with a low moan,
and looked up into the timber sun bon
net.
brow!" he began, but Geraldine blush
ed and bade him let up.
Gentle lady," he began again, 81
am aware that the crisis is near I'm
less l have help very soon. in some
form or other, I shall have clomb the
golden stair. Already the circulation
is impaired. and the transverse duplex
has ceased to vibrate. Dissolution is
coming on. MY pulse grows feebler
hour by hour, and l feel thai another
morning sun will find only my earthly
tenement here. My spirit will have
wung its way to the realms OF eternal
day"
20, do not talk that way" sobbed
Geraldine, filling her apron full OF
large, irregular fragments of grief. 1T
cannot, must not bel"
DO not be over confident said
Pumpkin Jim. Few men would have
lived as l have with a rib running
through the center of the liver, and in
to the ground for nine or ten inches
without great difficulty. The secret OF
mp power of endurance, 1 will, howev-
er, confide to you, as this may be pos
itively my last appearance. My true
name is not Pumpkin Jim; that is only
a nom de plume. My sure enough name
is Jesse James-that is the secret OF
my longevity. have been killed a
great deal. l have lost my life In al
most every state in the Union. AZ
first it used to make me gloomy and
taciturn to be killed SO much; but lat
terly 1 became very much pleased and
fattered by this attention. 1t is sad
to think, however, that after being kill
ed by some Of u most prominent
men, l should at last yield up the
ghost in a lonely canon, at the urgent
solicitation of a narrow-gauge mule.
But enough; it is useless to repine. All
that l am kicking about is, that after
dying in SO many different styles, and
in such desirable conditions, surround
ed by all the comforts OF civilization,
and getting a large amount Of news
paper space, and having q patent medi-
cine portrait Of myself published In
the papers. / should succumb to the
death-dealing jackass. in the solitude
of the mountains.
II cannot die again, however, with
out telling you Of my love. might
occupy your time by telling you Of my
long and glittering career Of crime, but
it would take too long. ! have nothing
to lay at your feet but my u~ntarnished
record as a highway robber. and my
all-consuming love.
ut would ease the pain of my dying
hour II you were to say to me that you
returned my love-"
Our hero then fell back upon the
messy bank and gasped for breath,
while to all appearances the last mo
ments OF Pumpkin Jim had come.
1t was a trying time for . young
thing like Geraldine to pass through.
She stopped over him and famed him
with her sun bonnet and whispered a
few low musical words in his ear.
That did the business.