The Wenatchee daily world. [volume] (Wenatchee, Wash.) 1905-1971, 1909-01-13


| engaged in this spectacular exhibition
| of Craftsmanship. gun play and vocali-
cation that Buds sweetheart rode into
town TO execute some commissions in
preparation for Echo Aliens wedding.
Already blue" over the thought that
her own wedding was far In the dim
| future. poor Polly was cast into the
| depths of despair and disgust by the
drunken riot in which her prospective
| husband was indulging with her par
ticular aversion. the cruel. calf tortur-
! ing half breed. Mckee. Thoroughly
mortified, she slipped out of town by
| a side street and moodily rode back to
Allen Hacienda.
After the debauch was over and the
! merry, mad devil of nervous excite
ment was succeeded by the brooding
| demon of nervous depression Mckee
| preached to Bud the idea of robbing
! the express agent of the money COM
| ing to PaySon. This fell in readily
with the young mans reyengeful
mood. and he unreservedly placed him
self under the half breeds orders.
I
about the railroad station great deaf.
cultivating the friendship of Terrill,
| the agent "Ole Man Terrill, as he
was called, although he was a vigOr
Gus specimen of manhood on the under
side of sixty. was ticket and freight
agent, express messenger and tele-
! graph operator-in fact. the entire bu-
| 80, too
; tion-at Florence station. Bud frankly
| told him he was out Of a job and had
! indeed decided. in view of his coming
marriage, TO give up horse wrangling
, for some vocation of a more elevating
| character. SO Terrill let him help
about the station. chiefly in the clerical
work While so engaged Bud learned
that package valued at $4,000 was
expected upon d certain train. AL
though no cOnSignee was mentioned,
the fact that the amount Tailed exact
ly with the sum PaySOn was expect
| ing caused him to conclude it was
Dicks repayment of his loan. Ac-
cordingly he informed Mckee that the
time they were awaiting had arrived.
!
ment about a spring of water some
time before the advent Of the railroad.
Builders of the line got into trouble
with the inhabitants and in revenge
located the station half mile away
from the spring. thinking new settlers
would come to them. In this they
were disappointed. The point was an
| ST 6pSartn6
spot between trains.
Eastward and westward the single
track of railroad drifted to simmer
ing points on the horizon. To the
south dreary wastes of sand gliStening
white under the FURNISHED sun and
crowned with clumps of grayish green
sagebrush stretched to an encircling
rim of hills. Cacti and yucca palms
broke the monotony of the roll OF the
plains to the uplands.
Sahuaros lowered over the low sta
ton, which was built in the style Of
the old Spanish missions. Its red roof
f1ared above the purple shadows cast
by its walls. In the fathomless blue
above q buZZard sailed majestically
down an air current and lowered mo-
tionless over the lonely outpost OF civil
lization.
Within the station a telegraph sound
er chartered and chirruped. "Ole Man"
Terrill was at the instrument. His du
ties were over for the forenoon, the
sastbound express. which. with the
! westbounG. composed the only trains
| that traversed that section of the road
each day. having arrived and departed
half hour before. and he had cut in
on the line TO regale himself with the
news of the world But there was d
dearth of thrilling events such as his
rude soul delighted in. The Apache
uprising that was feared had not taken
| place. Colonel Hardie of Fort Grant
had the situation well in hand. The
nihilists were giving their latest car
a breathing spell. No new priZefighter
had arisen to wreSt the ampiOnship
Of the world from John l.. Sullivan. who
had put all his old rivals ito sleep"
"Ole Man" Terrill proceeded TO follow
their example He had been up late
the night before at poker game, His
head fell forward with a jerk. Aroused
by the shock. he glanced drowsily
about him Heat waves danced be-
fore the open window Deep silence
hung over his little world Again his
eyelids closed. his head dropped. and
slowly he slipped into sleep.
Tragedy was approaching him now.
but not along the wire. Down an ar
royo, or draw" 0he dry bed of wa
| ter course,. that wound in a detour
around the town of Florence and de-
bouched into the open plain near the
station, crept two men in single file.
each leading a horse. They were Buck
Mckee and Bud Lane. who had ridden
north from the town that morning with
the declared purpose Of going to Bucks
old ranch, the Lazy *. They had cir
cled about the town, timing their ar
rival at the station little after the de-
parture of the train which was ex-
| -