The Palatka news and advertiser. [volume] (Palatka, Fla.) 1908-19??, 1911-03-10
THE HORSE
THIEVES
By THEODORE L. BREWER
Copyright by American Press Assoc
citation, 1871.


lively life out yere," said the old plains
man, there use to was. These we're
railroads ruin country"
was to spend the night in Josh Mil
ler's cabin. We were smoking our
pipes after supper, and his wife was
washing the dishes. encouraged him
to talk about the country as 1t was
formerly.
"Them was times when the men
was wild as the beasts. Every man
was armed with a rife hooked to his
saddle, two revolvers In his belt and
likely couple more In his saddlebags.
Anyway that's the way used to go
about. And tell you we had some
pretty likely women about yere In
them days. They could all shoot and
shoot straight enough too. And, better
than that, they wasn't all day dom it.
One on em l courted, too, for / wasn't
married then, but so far as could see
she hadn't no use for me.
1.-THE boss thieves was about as bad
stuff to deal with as anything we had
out yere In them days. There was
one gang Of 'em that I and some Of the
rest of us got after and broke up. We
killed some, hung some, and some of
'em got away. hearn that them as
got away said they'd get even with
me. They'd git me alive and when
they got me they'd make me suffer a
death for every man of their gang I'd
killed.
"And they got me sure enough. One
AFTERNOON I'd strayed away from the
settlement, crossed the river-one Of
the forks of the INSECURITY ford
and looked about for some game for
supper. | had only my rifle with me,
but l considered that enough to deal
with any Indians roamin' about l
didn't come on to no game, and, feelin'
kind of lazy, laid down on the ground
"The breeze rustled the leaves of a
tree under which l was layin', and the
birds was a-singin', and everything
was peaceful. That was what made
the difference when the shootin' and
the scaIpin' begun in them times. We
jumped from one to t'other in jiffy.
One minute it was listenin' to the
gurglin' o. water and the sighin' Of the
breeze: the next we hearn bullet
singin' or warwhoop.
swell, fell asleep. was woke up
up by shake. and there, looking down
into my face, was Bill Aiken, one O.
h. hof ha soil hafd
me. He'd got my rife, and l saw it
was all up with me. Bills boss was
nippin' the grass. So was mine. Three
other fellers come ridin' up. They
was the jolliest lot at gittin' me you
ever see, and they begun at onct to
lay plans for torturin' me to death.
"They concluded to take me to their
camp. They tied a lariat around my
neck, and one of 'em held an end be-
fore me, and another held one end be-
hind me, so that shore couldn't git
away. Then they put me on my boss.
To git to their camp they was obliged
to go over the ford I'd come by. Two
of 'em rode ahead and two behind me.
When we reached the ford the first
man went in up to his boss belly.
was wonderin' if couldn't find some
way to drown. But didn't have much
| time to think about 1t, for I'd scarce
got into the water when the man
who'd gone in first pitched forward
into the drink. At the same time I
heard crack and saw bit O smoke
f1oatin' away from the high bank on
t'other side of the river. But l could
see nothin' but the smoke.
1.-THE second man, SEEM the one
ahead killed and not SEEM what killed
him, didn't know what to do. All Of
us was in the river, and crossin'
stream is the wo'st possible place for
to be attacked. The third boss thief
called on the second to go on, but be-
| fore he could do it there was another
crack, and he dropped too. l was won
derin' If l was to be killed-ruther
hopin' was-when the man behind me
give q yell, and he went the same way
as the others.
zone idee by this time must "a got
into the fourth mans head. l reckon
be thought some one was dom all this
for me and, not likin' to give me a
chance to escape, concluded to shoot
me. | turned jist In time to see him
putin his hand back to git his re-
voIver when a red spot came in his
forehead and he didn't git no pistol.
"Yere was four men either dead or so
near dead they couldn't do nothin'.
Two of 'em was goin' downstream
under the water. OF course didn't
waste no time. I spurred my boss and
started across the ford. When I'd
climbed the bank | looked for them
as had done the shootin'. didn't see
no one. 1t was as peaceful there as
an April mornin'. listened, but l
couldn't hear nothin' except breeze
shakin' the leaves of the trees. The
grass was long, and I hunted about
in it.
"Purty soon 1 came to gal lynn as
If dead. She was the one was tellin'
you about a spell ago. A rife and a
AZ caliber revolver laid by her. l got
off my boss and knelt down to do
somepin to help her when she opened
her eyes. Seem me, she put her arms
around my neck.
"She was the party as had killed four
boss thieves and had saved me- Bein'
out thar, she had seen 'em and, know
in was nigh, had gone back to git
the weapons. After killin' all four of
'em, like a gal, she tainted"
''Thats the kind of girl I'm looking
for" L remarked enthusiastically.
"You can't have that one" said the
plainsman. she's in thar washin'
dishes. Besides, she's an old woman
now"