Warren sheaf. [volume] (Warren, Marshall County, Minn.) 1880-current, 1908-07-23


81
quicksilver Is worth bout ten thou
sand dollars to us an we're Rodn' to
have i. Now, therell be i've hundred
dollars In yer pocket IL Won haul ii
safe to the landing. You Git yer mon
ey when we git the stun aboard.
Stand In on this deal an, Won Kin "a
back an tell 'em you wuz held M or
any old thing. Well be on the way to
Mexico--we won't care. II YOU wont
stand inWell .
He patted the stock Of tho gun sig
nif1cantly and. glanced at his com
panion, whose visage distorted itself
into q horrible grin. Jim took OF his
hat and nervously mopped his head
with 2 red bandana handkerchief. #
III Well, what d you say? Are you
goin' to stand in an make the 1--WE
hundred, er are we goin' to throw yer.
corpse under the bridge an take the
team ourselves?" He impatiently
jerked his thumb toward little
stream crossing the road q hundred
yards ahead.
I 'Ef Miss Fannie an Miss Jennie
goes ober de cut ole Jim goes too"
He paused moment and looked At
the two men expressively. IT reckon
de five hundred bucks doan' grow on
many OBJ de trees roun' yere, SO ole
Jim's go1n to make hay fer shore
while de sun Shines" u ri
He smiled broadly, and in spite of
the mixed metaphor involved the two
seemed TO understand him perfectly.
E mats mats the business" affirmed the
man Win WI NJ the gun. I'VE don't want
10 nave no shO0t1n' or. noth1n' like
That IN THIS job. Do we, Joe?" @
! Again the horrible grimace spread
over the face of the man with one eye.
He shook his head by way of answer,
clambered into Little Betsy and
stretched out at full length on the
sacks OF grain. The other man fol-
lowed and seated himself on the pile
of hay, the shotgun resting across his
lap. ..%. ..4
NOW go ahead" he commanded.
Jim wh1stled to the leaders and the
outfit moved forward once again with
the jingle OF trace chains and hame
Dells ana a.. the rumble and rattle of the
tanoem wagons. IL So ~ 4
1t was almost dusk when they
reached the point where fuckers Cut
branched off from the main road. This
cut was a short route over the noun
tains to Goodalps Landing and was
little used because of the heavy grades
and poor condition of the roadbed,
which In some places was even dan
gerous. A stream crossed the road
here and Jim got down to water the
animals before the long ascent. The
man with the gun had been nodding,
out al the teams came to standstlll
ne WOKE 0e#- up Win start ana grlpped
! nls "eapon alertly' A1ter the tmrst
OF tne animals was sausned Jim
iooAeu over tne harness ana spent
cons1oerao!e ume adJustlne the coup
llnss winch Douno Llttle betsy 10 her
ponaesrous sister. Joe slept soundly
on the gram SACKS the empty socket
where nls eye once naa Oeen staring 1'
!, upWalu ln'o tne sa'nerine sioon'
4 AGAIN the pells ana cnalns pngled
ana the team began TO cl1mo the cut.
Inc ROAD became rougner and wound
IN ana out along the sloes OF q steep
raVlne. II was almost DARK now, out
tne leaaers PICKED tne way, aVololng
"asnouts anu other oos'ructlons VIII
marvellous sagaclty. ABOVE tnem the
olacK snaoo" OF the mountain sloe
sloped upward 10 the stars: On the
otner SIDE SO near sometlmes tna1 the
outer "neels crumoleo tne eoge
v aWn1eeo steep canyon: Along .tne
pottoln, several huhureo leet pelo",
q small stream no"eo over oeo VI
stones ana pouloers' :,-
s Several times Jim looked turuvely
back over his shoulder at the two men
in the rear wagon. Joe lay out
stretched on the sacks, slumbering
heavily. The man with the gun sat
on the hay, his chin dropped forward
on his breast and kltS head SWaVinQ