Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1908-08-21


spring season had got fully under way. !
AS business getter the outlaw was
a huge success. No shore resort with
an authentic sea serpent ever enjoyed
such popularity, and the stages that
met the trains from the east numbered
back over the twenty mile trail loaded
to capacity with women who openly
avowed their timidity and men who
tried more or less successfully to con-
ceal theirs.
Almost every afternoon the porch
was crowded to witness the departure
of the sheriff and his posse, and al
most as regularly some of the guests
came hurrying back TO the hotel to
tell how they had been held up and
stripped of their valuables with an
expedition that excelled the speed Of
the man back of the marble counter
in the rotunda. The latter kept the
books and each day set down OPP
posite each account a sum that would
have obtained board and lodgings for
week at a hotel not cursed-or blessed
by a bandit
Approaching the fact that much of
his booty was keepsakes and heir
looms, the bandit was always ready TO
trade back his plumber for the more
convenient specie, and as the landlord
insisted upon making good all losses
there were no complaints. Indeed. the
guests rather enjoyed being held up.
1t gave them something TO talk about
when their visit was over. Many of
the visitors by oft repeated telling so
embroidered the accounts of their in
diyidual holdups that the tales would
have offered good material for mag
azines. But it was not until Olive
| Marchand came that the real sensa-
ton was sprung.
Until then the outlaws taciturnity
had been his most pronounced char
| acteristic but when the slip of girl
came rushing down the path from the
| springs TO tell how Black Pete had
not only held her up, but had de
tanned her in conversation for more
| than an hour. every woman in the
I
| afternoon the banks of the stream fed
| by the springs We're dotted with wo-
men waiting TO be captured and talked
to that they might share Miss Mar.
chand's prestige.
Possibly it was for this reason that
Miss Marchand, walking down the val
ley instead of toward the springs, was
! tn1 l,-
whose square cut chin appeared q
mask of black velvet that lent a deeper
brillianee to a glttering gray eye.
I'm glad to see you this afternoon
was the greeting. Il rather thought
should find you here. The woods are
too crowded above, and so came dow
this way. I trust that you suffered nt
i'll effects from the shock of our meet
ing yesterday"
Il rather enjoyed IT, admitted DIV,
frankly. Il really think that the othe
women are enyiOuS''
/ Pete smiled at recollection of thu
goodly company he had passed on hi
way down the trail. There was IL,
question about it. He motioned her t,
|
and sat down beside her.
The girl was an eager Questioner, ant
presently he was reeling off stories O
adventure with a dash that brougl
the glow of excitement TO Mis-
5 Marchand's eyes. To make it stil
2 more thrilling, there was a crashing
: sound among the trees, and without
2 word the outlaw swung himself u
5 into tall pine just as the sheriff an
t his posse came tearing along.
/ They paused long enough to war
the girl that Black Pete was suppose
I to be somewhere in her vicinity an
. that it would be well for her to retur
! to the hotel by the trail instead Q
: through the woods; then they hurrie
: ON, and Pete swung himself dow
o from his perch.
This is the easiest experience l eve
had" he declared laughingly. 9TH
sheriff trusts to numbers and hard riC
: ing, with the result that l have plent
: of time to disappear when 1 hear hil
x coming"
IS 1T must be terrible to feel that 20
IN arc a heihtcu lillh5B muSSu OilNS, WI
~ Il little shudder.
X That's the joyous part" declare
W the outlaw. II am not hunted whe
'N the pursuit is in the hands of I'll
W sheriff. But let's forget the sheriff
|N he added. I've told you all about m
W self. Now, turn about is fair play"
XII 1T would seem so tame after VIII
W you have told me-" she demurred, b
W she was soon deep in her subject, al
W it was not until the afternoon shadoy
M heightened that at last she recall'
W herself and hurried up the trail towal
W the hotel. where half a hundred disa
~ pointed women were already gather
N upon the porch.
81 There was not exactly an arrane
w ment to meet the following afternoC
W but Black Pete had said that he Won
" be over on 1.-The branch and she fou
W him there in the late afternoon. TT
~ time he had removed his mask, d
W closing face in which there was
IN hint of the depravity with which
jU was credited. lt.was an honest. mar
w face with frank gray ewes and n IL