Camas Prairie chronicle. [volume] (Cottonwood, Idaho) 1901-1917, 1907-07-12

It up, and the G. means to take It to-
night. He will have only a few men, the
rest not near. He will be at the bank at
two, with about twenty men. Take y0ur
own measures. All here favor you. He
threatens me with violence unless marry
him at once. He 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.
Up. S.-M. and the G. are on bad
terms, and NJ. will not be active against
you"
Upon the whole 1 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 and
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 Colonels 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-
lutely unselfish. l had, at this crisis, ev-
cry inducement to concentrate all my
efforts on myself, but l 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 scrupulous, and it was impossible not
to see that Jones might get a bullet
through his head; indeed, l 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 l 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 a bench In the Piazza. I was in nc
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 1t.
began by pledging Jones to absolute
secrecy, and then 1 intimated to him, in
a roundabout way, that the Colonel and
1 were both very apprehensive of an at,
tack on the bank.
1.-THE town." said I, SIS in a most un
settled condition, and many dangerous
characters are about. Under these cir
cumstances I have felt compelled to leave
the defense of our property in the hands
of the government. 1 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. 1 there,
fore desire to tell you, Mr.. Jones, that in
the lamentable event of any attack on the
bank it will not be expected Of Won tC
expose your life by resistance. Such 6
sacrifice would be both uncalIed for anC
useless and I must instruct you that tht
| government insists that their measure,
shall not be put in danger of frustratio
by any rash conduct on our part. an
unable to be at the bank this evening
but in the event of any trouble you will
oblige me by not attempting to meet fore.
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 Will
the natural bent of Jones' mind that h,
readily acquiesced in them and expressed
high appreciation of my foresight.
Take care of yourself and Mrs. Jones
my dear fellow" 1 concluded; that /,
all you have to do, and l shall be salts
fed"
1 parted from him affectionately, won
dering If my path in life would ever eros
the honest, stupid old fellows again, ant
heartily hoping that his fortune woulc
soon take him out of the rogues nest Il
which he had been dwelling.
TO be continued.l