The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1912-12-06
A Homely Man S
Romance
BY CORA HATHORN SYKES


mantle a person as could be imagined
He had been a stage driver all his life
and now that the railroads had elboweC
the stagecoach off the main lines oi
travel Mart was handling the relns IL
the Yellowstone park, driving partle.
OF visitors there. One day some young
ladies were occupying the next seal
back Of the driver, one pretty miss OF
eighteen sitting beside him. She was
trying to get Mart's experiences Of wild
western life out Of him.
"Are there any romances among these
episodes of yours, Mr.. Krebbs?" she
asked.
II don't know what episodes is" he
! replied, but If by romances you mean
love there's one love story, but that's
the only one so far as ! knows"
do tell it," came from all the girls
at once. Mart began by sundry instruc-
| tions to his horses. eased the coach on
a down grade by putting his foot on
the brake, hemmed several times and
| told his story:
This park when was n younker was
a part of the western wilderness, but
/ they called it what they call it now,
and onct in awhile there was a party
visitin' it. I'd been drivin' coach be-
/ tween Denver and Georgetown. but
had gravitated over yere The Ute In
dians was yere in them days, and they
was friendly to the whites, but the
friendship of redskins means nothin'
dOin' between them as q tribe and
the whites. 1t don't take in small af-
fairs.
"Waal, one day / was slouChin'
around loobin' for a good place where
there was water to stay awhile when
| heered the crack Of rifle. | was
in a holler. and l couldn't see nothin
and / didn't know which direction It
was comm from, but as there was
road just beyond the rise on my right
/ kind o. thOrt there was sOmepin goin
on in that direction. l elm up part
o. the way and crawled up the rest till
/ stuck this ugly mug O. mine-I was
almost as ugly then as l am now-over
the ridge
What I saw was this: A party of
visitors was rdin' in a three seated
wagon-three on a seat-and three Utes
was maxim road agents of themselves.
calculatin' to do little civilized plum
derin'. They had stopped the wagon
by the shot | had heard, and the party
In the wagon was handin' out their
valuables. There wasn't one Of 'em
armed, and they hadn't no business
drivin' there without perfection. They
had been told there wasn't no danger,
and mostly there want.
II was only one man with one rife.
though had plenty Of ammunition.
didn't feel like interferin so long as
the redskins acted Christian-like and
didn't do nothin' moren rob. But when
they'd got all the cash there was in
the party and found there wasn't
much Of it after all one of 'em saw
mighty purity young gal, and l heard
him ask her to be his squaw. 1 know'd
Just enough Of their lingo to under
stand what he meant, but none o. them
In the wagon did. The red devil took
hold O the gal and pulled her out o.
the wagon. She was skeered purity
nigh to death. When they got her In
the road they was takin' her off into
the forest when I calc'lated It was time
to interfere. was layin' on my stom-
lex with my rife before me, havin' a
perfect aim with rest 1 sent a ball
into the skull Of the red man that was
pinin' for matrimony and dropped him.
His two pals in about one second
had got their eyes on a bit o. smoke
sailln' on from where was and know'd
where the shot come from, but they
hdn't know who had fired 1t or how
many there was Of me. / didn't give
'em time to make plans. / let fly an
other lump o. lead, though by this time
the two live Indians was maxim for
trees, and / only winged one O. 'em.
The other took the wounded man and
helped him away. l sent another ball
after 'em SOS to discourage 'em from
comm back. waited awhile, reckon.
In they might, but hearin' nothin' o.
'em l went down and Joined the party.
THE raskil killed had most o. the
plunder on him, and that was saved
But the principal thing saved was the
gal. When she got 1t through her
head what I'd done she jist wabbled
up to me and throwed her arms about
my neck and collapsed"
How Interestingly exclaimed the
girl beside the narrator. 81 Thought
we'd get to the love part after awhile"
said another. "Do go on" cried a
third Lets have your proposalr'
ehirped a little girl not quite fourteen
years old.
"They want no Iyoposal," Krebbs
continued. "Do you reckon young
Teller with red hair and freckles would |
have the gall to propose to a young
ady like thatf jist handed her over
% her mother, and her father, who'd
got his money back from the Indian
I'd shot, handed me a twenty dollar
gold piece. / told him / didn't have