Heppner gazette. [volume] (Heppner, Morrow County, Or.) 1892-1912, 1906-11-22

it up, and the c. means to take 1t to-
night He will have only few men, the
rest not near. lie will be at the bank at
two, with about twenty men. Take your
own measures. All here favor you. lie
threatens me with violence unless | marry
him at once. lie watches The Songstress,
but if you can leave her at anchor and
land in boat there will be no suspicion.
Do not punish me more by disbelieving
me. CHRISTINA.
"P. S.-M. and the G. are on bad
terms. and NJ. will not be active against
YOU
Upon the whole | thought this would
bring him. l doubted whether he would
believe very much in it, but it looked
probable. Again, he was so fond OF a
bold stroke, and so devoid OF fear, that
it was very likely he would come ana
see if it were true. If, as we suspected,
he already had a considerable body OF ad-
herents on shore, he could land and re-
connoiter without very great danger OF
falling into the Coonel's hands. Finally,
even if he didn't come, we hoped the let
ter would be enough to divert his atten-
ton from, any thought of fugitive boats
and runaway lovers.
To my mind it is nearly as difficult
to be. consistently selfish as to be abso-
luteIy unselfish. l had, at this crisis, ev-
cry inducement to concentrate all my
efforts on myself, but | could not get
Jones. out of my head. 1t was certainly
improbable that Jones would try to resist
the marauding party; but neither the
Colonel nor his chosen band was likely to
be scfupulous, and it was impossible not
to see that Jones might get bullet
through his head: indeed, | fancied such
a step would rather commend itself to the
Colonel, as giving a bona fde look to
the affair. Jones had often been the cause
of great inconvenience to me, but | didn't
wish to have his death on my conscience,
so i was very glad when l happened to
meet him on my way back from the Gold
en- House, and seized the opportunity of
giving him a friendly hint.
took him and sat him down beside me
on bench in the Piazza. was in no
way disturbed by the curious glances of
the three soldiers who were evidently
charged to keep an eye on the bank and
my dealings with II. ~
I began sby nledging Jones to absolute
secrecy, and then l intimated to him, in
a roundabout way, that the Colonel and
l were both very apprehensive of an at
tack, on the bank.
'.The town. said l. "is in a most un-
settled condition, and many dangerous
characters are about. Under these cir
rumstances l have felt compelled to leave
the defense of our property in the hands
of the government. have formally in->
timated to the authorities that we shall
hold. them responsible for any loss occa-
stoned to us by public disorder. The
Colonel, in the name Of the government,
has accepted that responsibility. / there
fore desire, to tell yoH, Mr.. Jones, THAI in
the lamentable event of any attack on the,
bank it will, not be expected: of /. you to
expose your life by resistance. Such d
sacrifice would be both uncalled for and
useless; and | mist instruct you that the
government insists that their measures
shall not be put in danger of Illustration
by any rash conduct on our part | am
unable to be at the bank this evening
but in the event Of any trouble you will
oblige me by not attempting to meet force
by force. You will yield, and we shall
rely on our remedy against the govern
ment in case of loss
These instructions so fully agreed with
the natural bent of Jones' mind that he
readily acquiesced in them and expressed
high appreciation of my foresight.
Take care of yourself and Mrs. Jones,
nv dear fellow" 7 concluded "that iS
all you have to do, and shall be salts
fed"
l parted from him affectionately, won
dering if my path in life would ever cross
the honest, stupid old fellows again, and
heartily hoping that his fortune would
soon take him out of the rogues nest in
which he had been dwelling.
(To be continued