Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1912-05-14
sht, 1911. The Bobas. Merrill Company.

! his own esteem.
| The battered old toW-wagon, true to
time, came whirling up in cloud Of
dust. honking joyfully. Daggancourt
was at the wheel: Mack and Louey in
the tonneau, and there was about all
three an appearance of festivity that
accorded with the bright spring morn
ing. The two mechanics, one Scotch
and the other French, were in uproari-
Gus spirits, greeting Matt noisily, and
showing him. with great gusto, the
guns and packages at their feet Matt
jumped up besinde Victor, and with a
nudge of his leg which the other an
swered with wink, asked for the lat
est bulletin of the bear. Since over
night it had become very real bear,
reported by Wood-choppers, and con-
frmed by an imaginary individual
named Sam Bason. The mechanics
were eager for the fray, and Louey had
equipped himself with hunting-knife
flor the express purpose of skinning
the bear. Victor gigglingtat the wheel
contributed further Sam Bacon parti-
culars, and altogether they were very
jolly, indeed.
! Spinning blithely along, waving their
hats at every one they passed, they at
length swung off the main road and
into the hills. The country here-abouts
was sparsely settled; instead Of CON-
Portable farm-houses and barns. the
rare dwellings shrank to mere cabins,
and wretched patches gave place to
fields. Soon they weer beyond all civil
lization. in a region of woods and scrub
with sandy hollows in which they sank
to the rims. Matt reached aver and Sc
cured gun. gladder than ever he had
not come alone. This prompted Mack
and Louey to do the same, and it was
| in this warlike manner that they
reached the quarry.
It was as deserted as Matt had rem
embered it; not sound broke the ST.
lence; and the tumble down buildings,
with their broken windows, showed no
sign of occupancy. Matt looked at
Victor, and Victor stared back. Where
were the Boston people? Where were
the four hundred Hungarians? 1t was
a tomb of abandoned endeavor, crumb-
ling and decaying beneath the SCARED
mountains. The spell of the bear was
upon the two mechanics: the spell OF
something yet more mysterious and
intimidating was upon Matt and the
mulatto. They turned off the engine,
descended, and advanced, guns in hand,
close together and alert. a finger on
every trigger. For dozen minutes
they prowled about searching the
shanties in turn: climbing up rocky
buttresses: dislodgng bats in cavern
GUS workings, and skirting pools Of
muddy yellow water.
| All Nf cu66ap Mach mora al
venturesome than the rest, came run
agitation.
Let's get out Of here" he gasped,
displaying a piece Of new black cloth
| in his hand. Look at that, boys, look
at that"
Except for its newness, which was
singular in spot so wholly deserted,
Matt saw nothing to stare at in the
black cloth. which was smaller than a
napkin. and of some cheap, cotton ma
terial. slit in several places.
| Victor and Louey were equally sur
prised at the Scotchman's terror, and
! eyed him ard his discovery with sur
prise.
"You gawks," cried Mack, beside
himself, don't you see it's mask?"
Laying his gun on the ground he
Itremblingly set the thing to his face,
and glowered at them through the
apertures. Instantly he was trans
formed into a bandit, and a SILVER
passed through his companions. 1t
was but a trifing bit Of cloth, yet it
made their hearts beat like sledge-
hammers 1t was the symbol of MUIR
! der, of dark and violent deeds, of
blood and outrage. To stumble across
lit here was to people the quarry with
lurking desperadoes; they examined it
whisperingly, and cast apprehensive
locks over their shoulders. 1t might
have been made an hour before; the
edges were sharp from the scissors;
neither dew nor sun had impaired the
crispness of the fabric
Lets get out Of here repeated
Mack. I've had all the bear I want"
Matt and Victor stayed together, re-
firing in good order, but the others
fled for the car like rabbits
''It's pretty good thing you came