Evening journal., 1911-03-22
THE HORSE
THIEVES
BY THEODORE L. BREWER
Copyright by American Press Asso-
citation. 1911.


lively life out yere." said the old plains
man. there use to was. These yere
railroads ruin a country"
was to spend the night in Josh NIL
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 rifle hooked to his
saddle. two revovers I'm his belt and
likely a couple more In his saddlebags.
Anyway that's the way l used 20 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 doin' 1t.
One on 'em courted. too. for l wasn't
married then. but so far as l could see
she hadn't no use for me.
"The boss thieves was about as bad
STUFF to deal with as anything we had
out yere I'm 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 ia
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 Missouri-by a ford
and looked about for some game for
supper. I had only my rifle with me.
but l considered that enough TO deal
with any Indians roamin' about.
didn't come on TO no game. and. feelin'
kind of lazy, l 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 shootln' and
the scalpin' begun in them times. We
jumped from one to t'other I'm n jiffy.
One minute II was rstenin' TO the
gurglin' O. water and the sighin' OF the
breeze: the next we hearn a bullet
singin' or a warwhoop.
"Well. / fell asleep. I was woke w
up by n shake. and there. looking down
into my face. was Bill Aiken, one O.
the boss thieves that had said he'd dc
me. He'd got my rife, and saw II
was all up with me. Bill's boss was
nippln the grass. SO was mine. Thre,
other fellers come ridin' up. The,
was the jolliest lot at gittin' me yol
ever see. and they begun at onct 4
> lay plans FOR torturin' me 10 death.
'They concluded to take me TO thei
camp. They tied a lariat around m
neck. and one OF 'em held an end b
fore me, and another held one end b.
hind me, so that | shore couldn't z
away. Then they put me on my hos
To git to their camp they was oblige
to 60 over the ford I'D come by. Tw
, OF 'em rode ahead and two behind mi
When we reached the ford the frs
man went in up to his hoss' belly.
= was wonderin' IL couldn't find som
way to drown. But didn't have muc
time to think about It, for I'd scare
: got into the water when the mai
who'd gone in first pitched forwar'
into the drink. At the same time
heard a crack and saw a bit O. smok
fioatin' away from the high bank ol
I t'other side OF the river. But l coul'
! see nothin' but the smoke.
'The second man, seein' the on
ahead killed and not seem what kille'
him. didn't know what TO do. All o
us was in the river. and crossin'
stream is the wo'st possible place 10
to be attacked. The third boss THE
called "A the second to go on. but be
fore he could do it there was anothe
crack, and he dropped too. / was wor
aerin' II was to be killed-ruthe
hopin' was-when the man behind m
n give'a yell, and he went the same wa
as the others.
zone idee by this time must "a &c
3 into the fourth mans head. l recko
T be thought some one was doin' all thl
for me and, not likin' to give me
chance to escape. concluded to shoe
me- l turned jist In time TO see hii
putin his hand back to git his n
volver when a red spot came In hi
forehead and he didn't git no pistol.
"Yere was four men either dead or s
/, near dead they couldn't do nothin
/, Two of 'em was goin' downstream
, under the water. OF course l didn
waste no time. I.spurred my boss an
, started across the ford. When L
q climbed the bank I looked for theI
p, as had done the shootin'. / didn't Sc
p no one It was as peaceful there a
] an April mornin'. listened, but
q couldn't hear nothin' except a breez
shaxin' the leaves Of the trees. Th
grass was long. and l hunted abor
b in it.
, Purity soon / came TO a gal lyin' a
II dead. She was the one was tellil
you about a spell ago A rife and
s AZ caliber revolver laid by her. l &
Z or my boss and knelt down to q
somepin TO help her when she opene
n her eyes. Seem me. she put her arm
Z around my neck.
"She was the party as had killed fot
boss thieves and had saved me. Bet
out thar. she had seen 'em and. knoY
IN l was nigh. had gone back to 2
the weapons. After killin' all four
'em. like a gal, she tainted"
d That's the kind Of girl I'm Iookir
for" I remarked enthusiastically.
+ ''You can't have that one" said Il