, 1905-01-09
Through the Curling Smoke
Continued from page p

lighting proposition on a frosty night
but she don't warm up to her worl
sufficiently to make any perceptiblt
rise in temperature when Old Sol rs
doing his stunt on the other side. My
but don't things begin to SILVER dur
ing the DARKNESS just before dawn!
Well do you know, we waited there fol
that fellow to come up from the south
until Bradley rolled himself up in the
blankets III the ground under the tent;
but | yet held that empty cracker box
down and studied astronomy. Direct,
ly from the far side of the draw came
the faint sound of excited voices-two.
Bradley didn't hear them, so he said,
and the of his expression
rather placed a query after my state
ment of the fact. Came to the con-
clusion that | didn't have a hear a
sitting down on the National Biscuit
company, busily engaged in looking
out through the darkness toward where
the scenery was supposed to be, |
heard the rumbling of wheels and a
shot, and | a just about to pull a
stop on Bradley's nasal organ, when |
supposed to be plugged; so | told Brad
icy a story and put him back to sleep.
What a mighty frosty proposition it
is-this sitting out in the open and
studying astronomy just before the
break of day. You can fairly hear the
pinchers creak as Jack Frost closes
down for a farewell squeeze upon
those things to which he is about to
say farewell for the day. A fellows
blood is about as sluggish as a mill
stream when the mill is shut down.
and he actually looks for frost upon his
whiskers, even in July: so | rolled in
under the blankets on the ground.
storm coat and all, as a matter of com
fort and not of rest, and waited for the
light of day. or the arrival of the con
~veyance from the south, it mattered al
that time but little which.
Help! Help"
| aroused Bradley, and with an EN-
phasis possibly vindictive, asked
We'll, do you hear that"
And he got up muttering, We'll, !
wonder what in HI is popping now
and we swung out into the shadow and
under the protection of the blackness
Of hat darkness worked out way to
the top of the bluffs. And there
At the turn of the newly made road
running down to the stage camp in the
draw, the mail wagon from h south
| was bottom side up, the wheels re
volving like buz saws, but the driver
had landed on his feet, yet holding the
reins, and the horses had been kept at
taw. A moment or two sufficed to
right the wagon and replace the mail
pouches; the Kid took his seat ana
down the bluffs the outfit went, the
horses on a dead run, every twist and
turn in the newly built road promising
complete humiliation; but somehow,
perhaps because of the good spirits
with which the driver was imbued(!),
by a graceful curve the team came
around alongside the camp and oppo-
site the gate to the pasture which
promised food and rest for the over
driven span.
And the two drivers were wrangling
the horses down at the bars, and, in
my sand colored storm coat, | wander
ed through the shadows down there
abouts and made my couch in the
midst of the %sagebrush.
Ever cultivate the acquaintance of a
SAND flea? Lively fellow-exceedingly
sociable;; in fact, carries his sociabil-
ity a little too far, until he becomes
objectionably familiar. In the words
of that classical song, as sung by Jim
ME. the sheep herder, Il got mine,
boys. l got mine
Has he got any money! That was
Bradley.
Eyes, he's got checks for sixty dol
lars, and you're a id fool If you
don't get it." That was by the Kid.
And the twain came back to the wa
CONS to make the transfers, as at this
point the drivers commenced to double
back toward either terminus of the
route. and then the Kid told the story
of his b~elligerent passenger whose GU
riosity prompted him to attempt to
make a more searching examination
of the contents of the mai pouches
SO the Kid said, than the law would
allow. and how the Kid reached under
the seat and drew forth a Smith and
Wesson, and informed the curious
sheep herder that he would have TO &C
complish his felonious deed over his
the Kid's-dead body, or words to
that effect. And how the passenger
bolted from the wagon, drawing his
gun from his bed roll in the act, and
taking a shot at the Kid, whereat the
Kid dashed his horses into a dead run
and, making the turn on the brow of
the bluff on the road to the camp, over
turned as has been before described.
IF the fellow had been half way de
cent about it," said the Kid, "and got
ten out in front and drawn his gun. as
a gentleman should. he could have had