Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1906-02-08

| IL III
| III BY SEWARD w. HOPKINS n
| III Copyright. 1905, by f. Il. Whitellcdd
The up express was due to pass at
1 o'clock, but It did not stop Graham
would not have been in the office at
| all, only he had some money in the safe
and had received orders by wire to
sleep in the station that night.
He did not know how much there
was. 1t had come in n sealed package,
locked in a small pouch. He knew it
was pay day on the new branch then
| building en- the 1st, and this was the
31st.
"Why can't they send a pay carp
4 asked Graham of himself.
"Too confounded mean," he muttered.
The hours dragged slowly, but Gra-
ham found some solace in thinking of
| Miss Delaine.
Miss Delaine was from Chicago She
was visiting the daughter of Silas
Jones. whom she had met at school.
Miss Jones was tall, big and strong;
| Miss Delaine was dainty.
Miss Jones, with the advantage of her
boarding school years, dressed well;
) Miss Delaine dressed better.
| Graham had suddenly felt peculiar
| sensation when Miss Delaine got off
| the local at Naomi. He knew that Silas
| was going to have company. He had
no idea the company was built more
on the fleeting vision plan than any
| other.
"If Silas don't feed that girl up he
will be all out of company" Graham
| had said shes almost gone now"
Graham was a husky fellow and had
| been at Naomi two months when Miss
| Delaine appeared. As Graham board
ed with Silas he had an opportunity to
study her well.
mo more turkey hunts while she's
here" he grumbled to himself.
Miss Delaine took the grumble out
Of him when she proposed shoot, and
the three went to the scrubs, and Miss
Delaine brought down five to his three
and Miss Jones one.
Miss Delaine proved to have more
get up and get in her diminutive body
than Graham acknowledged in his five
feet ten She could box big Miss Jones
all over the barn floor; she could climb
a cherry tree in a light summer frock
and come down as neat as she went
up; she could swim better than Miss
Jones and dive as deep as Graham.
She could play the most charming
waltzes and sing the prettiest songs.
She had not been at Naomi two weeks
before she was singing in the choir,
and Graham made the narrowing dis
covery that he sang bass.
So on this night Graham consoled
himself by thinking gloomy thoughts
about Miss Delaine.
I'D be q fool to ask her and brute
to expect her to accept if 1 did ask"
He said this with almost a groan.
"Why couldn't it have been FanT'
Fan was Miss Jones. "B~t, no; she'll
marry Larkins, and if Miss Delaine
was poor I'd marry her"
He knew she was rich. She had Of
ten spoken about "our railroad" James
Delaine was president of the Q. and B.
Disconsolate, he smoked his pipe He
wondered how much money there was
in the safe. He knew the payroll must
be long.
He had read last Sundays paper a
dozen times and gone off to sleep and
nearly fallen off the chair which he had
tilted back. He had left the door open
for air. The night was warm.
'Hello there, young fellerr' came a
voice. He turned toward the door and
looked into the barrel of big revolver
Hold UP your hands!'
"Er II am agent here" stammered
Graham.
"Oh, we know that. You keep yer
mouth shut. Wen do the rest"
Il WORT submit to robbery, if that IS
what you mean," said Graham
Robbery, eh? Won't submit, eh?
Well, young feller. ye don't look much
like fool. Under the circumstances
1 wouldn't advise yer to be one even If
7 ye do know how. I've got two partners
here, and the first yawp out of ye will
mean game O. shootin' big Now.
Jim"
Another fellow came in and went
through Graham's pockets.
"Now, young feller," said the leader
after Jim had deposited an express re-
volver on the table, 'just tell us the
combination to that safe"
II refuse"
"What did l say about bein q fool?
Say, I'll give you three minutes to
make up your mind. You'll either give
US the combination or I'll put hole
through you. Now, one"
Graham was silent
Jim was working at the safe. The
third came in and grinned at the pic
ture Graham made,
'Pretty boy" he said.
"Three"
Graham opened his mouth to speak
"Ain't no use sayin' anything unless
It's the combination"
"Aw, kill him. We can blow open
the safe"
Graham knew that these men meant
business. They would as soon take o
life as eat. He could see his revolver
lying where Jim had placed it.
If only he could divert the leaders
attention while he grabbed his own re- !
volver he would take a chance. Gra-
ham was no coward. He fixed bis eyes
on the door, nodding to some imag-
mary person behind the leader. The
bandit laughed.
"See that Bill? He don't know how
old that trick Is. Young feller, that
trick was old before you were born.
Give us another"
''It is no trickv' shouted Graham. 81
am not afraid of you, but don't let that
bear in here"
He looked frightened. The one call
ed Bill looked Graham had moved
few steps forward.
"Are you goin' to open that safe"
81 tell you to shoot him." said bill.
Hes tried to fool US twice. No bear
outside"
Graham could see the desperate
growing blacker. He knew that after
he had opened the safe for them they
would shoot him to prevent identifica
tion If had heen done many times ba-