Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1907-06-11

women out here, or possibly on &C.
count of the lateness of the hour.
Away with conventions! This was the
land of instinct and impulse. she
would talk to him. The man drew his
nat more closely about his face and
moved on as she came up. Glenister
had been In her thoughts moment
since, and she now noted that here
was another with the same great,
square shoulders and erect head Then
she saw with start that this one was
a negro. He carried a Winchester and
| seemed to watch her carefully, yet
with indecision.
To express her interest and to break
the silence, she questioned him, but at
the sound of her voice he stepped to-
wards her and spoke roughly.
"What!"
Then he paused, and stammered in
strangely altered and unnatural
| voice:
| "Yass'm. I'm the watchman."
She noted two other darkies at work
below and was vaguely surprised, not
! SO much at their presence. as at the
manner in which they moved, for them
seemed under stress Of some great
saw horses standing in the trail and
sensed something indefnably odd and
alarming in the air. Turning to the
man, she opened her mouth to speak,
| when from the rank grass under her
feet came noise which set her a.
Jingle, and at which her suspicious
leaped full to the solution. 1t was the
groan Of man. Again he gave voice
to his pain, and she knew that she
stood face to face with something
sinister. Tales of sluice robbers had
come to her, and the rumors of the
daring raids into which men lured by
the yellow sheen-and yet this was in
credible. A hundred men lay within
sound Of her voice; she could hear
their laughter; one was whistling a
popular refrain. A quarter-mile away
on ever! hond were otner camp; I,
scream from her would bring them all
Nonsense, this was no sluice robbery
ard then the man in the bush,s be.
low moaned for the third time.
What is that?" she said.
Without a reply the negro lowered
the muzzle of his rifle till it covered
her breast and at the same time she
heard the double click of the hammer.
Keep still and don't move" he
warned. Were desperate and we
can't take any chances, Miss
"Oh, you are stealing the gold
She was wildly frightened, yet stood
still while the lookout anxiously divid-
ed her attention between her and the
tents above until his companions
singnalled him that they were th,,usr
and the horses were loaded. Then he
spoke:
II don't know what to do with you,
but | guess I'll tie you up"
What" she said.
I'm going to tie and gag you SO you
can't hollor."
ooh, don't you dare!" she cried,
fiercely. "I'll stand right here till
you're gone and | won't scream. I
promise. She looked up at him ap-
pealingly. at which he dipped his head,
SO that she caught only a glimpse of
his face. and then backed away.
call right! Don't try 1t, because I'll
be hidden In those bushes yonder at
the bend and I'll keep you covered till
the others are gone" He leaped down
the bank, ran to the cavalcade, mount
ed quickly, and the three lashes their
horses into a r'in disappearing up the
trail around the sharp curve. She
heard the blows of their quirts as
they whipped the pack-horses.
They were long out of sight before
the girl moved or made sound al
though she knew that none of the
three had paused at the bend. sho,
only stood and gazed, for as they gal
Hoped off she had heard the scrap Of
a broken sentence. It was but ono
excited word, sounding through the
rattle of hoofs-her own name
Helen; and yet because Of 1t she
did not voice the alarm, but rather
began to piece to gether, bit by bit,
the, strange points of this adventure.
She recalled the outlines Of her cap
tor with wrinkle Of perplexity. Her
fright disappeared entirely, giving
place to intense excitement. mo. no
1T can't be-and yet l wonder il It
Isl" she cried. ooh, wonder If It
could bel" She opened her lips to
cry aloud, then hesitated. She started
towards the tents, then paused and
for many moments after the hoof-
beats had died out she stayed unde-
cided. Surely she wished to give the
oASAoi, W 1oICS JIG ll6FC6 pursuit,
What meant this robbery, this de-
fiance of the law, of her uncle's edicts
and of Mcnamara? They were com.
mon thieves, criminals. outlaws, these
men, deserving punishment, and vet
she recalled a darker night, when she
herself had sobbed and quivered with
the terrors of pursuit and two. men
had shielded her with their bodies.
She turned and sped towards the
tents, bursting in through the canvas
door; instantly every man rose to his
feet at sight of her pallid face, her
flashing eyes, and rumpled hair.
"Sluice robbers!" she cried breath
lessly. Quick! A hold-up! The
Waterman is hurt!"
A roar shook the night air, and the
men poured out past her, while the
day shift came tumbling forth from
every quarter in various stages Of
undress
Mcnamara appeared among them,
fierce and commanding, seeming to
grasp the situation intuitively, without