Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1912-05-23

to me to protect myself in Nevada!"
Mallory smiled at the .22-caliber
toy, broke 1t open, and displayed an
empty cylinder.
where are the pills that go with
IT." he said.
"Oh, Sammy wouldn't let me have
any bullets. He was afraid Id hurt
myself"
Mallory returned it, with bow. 1T
would make an excellent nut-cracker."
Aren't you going to use it?" Mrs.
Whitcomb gasped
ITS empty" Mallory explained.
But the robbers don't know that!
Couldn't you just overawe them with
it,"
mot with that" said Mallory, "un-
less they died laughing"
Mrs. Wellington pushed forward:
Then what the devil are you going to
do when they Gomez"
Mallory answered meekly: "If they
request it, I shall hold up my hands"
And you won't resist?" Kathleen
gasped.
Not a resist"
And he calls himself a soldier!"
she sneered.
Mallory writhed, but all he said
was: "A soldier doesn't have to be
jackass. know just enough about
guns not to monkey with the wrong
end OF en-
"Cowald." she flung at him. lie
turned white but Marjorie red, and
made a leap at her, crying: Hes the
bravest man in the world. You say
word, and III scratch your eyes out"
This reheartened Mallory a little,
and he laughed nervously, as he re-
strained hel Kathleen retreated out
of danger with a parting shot: Our
engagement is Off
Thanks" Mallory said, and put out
his Hand: will you return the brace
let?'
Il never return such things" said
Kathleen.
The scene was so painful and such
an anachronism that DR.. Temple tried
to renew a more pressing subject:
ITS your opinion then that Wet best
surrender?'
"Of course-since we can't run"
Wedgewood broke in impatiently:
well | consider it a dastardly out
rage. I'll not submit to it. I'm a
subject of His Majesty the"
You're subject OF His Majesty
oJ
lory.
81 shall protest, none the less"
Wedgewood insisted.
Mallory grinned little. "Have you
any last message to send home 20
your mother?'
Wedgewood was a trifie chilled at
this. "D-don't talk of such things" he
said.
And by this time the train-robbers
had hastily worked their way through
the other passengers, and reached the
frantic inhabitants of the sleeper,
"Snowdrop."
Hands up! Higher! Hands up!"
With true sense of the dramatic,
the robbers sent ahead of them the
most hair-raising yells. They arrived
simultaneously at each end OF the
aisle, and with a few short sharp COM
mands, Strengthened the disorderly
rabble into a beautiful line, with all
palms aloft and all eyes wide and
wild.
One robber drove ahead of him the
conductor and the other drove in Mr..
Manning, whom he had found trying
to crawl between the shelves OF the
linen-closet.
The marauders were apparently
cattlemen, from their general get-up.
Their hats We're pulled low, and just
beneath their eyes they had drawn
big black silk handkerchiefs, tied be-
hind the ears and hanging to the
breast
Over their shoulders they had slung
the feed-b bags of their horses, to serve
as receptacles for their swag. Their
shirts were chalky with alkali dust.
Their legs were encased in heavy
chaparejos, and they carried each a
pair of wel-used Colts revolvers that
looked as big as artillery.
When the passengers had showed
and jostled into line. one of the men
jabbed the conductor in the back with
the muzzle Of his gun, and snarled:
Now speak your little piece, like i
learned it to you."
The conductor, like an awkward
schoolboy, grinned sheepishly, and
spoke. his hands in the air the while:
Ladies and gents, these here par
ties in the black tides says they want
everybody to hold his or her hands
as high as possible till you git per-
mission to lower EN-; they advise you
not to resist, because they hate the
sight of blood, but prefer it to argu-
ment."
The impatient robbers, themselves
the prey of fearful anxietIes, broke in,
barking like pair of coyotes in
tumble of commands: Now, line up
with your backs that way, and no
back talk. These guns shoot awful
easy. And remember, as each party
is finished with, they are to turn
round and keep their hands up, on
penalty of gittin' 'em shot off. Line
up! Hands up! Give over there!"
Mrs. Jimmie Wellington took her
time about moving into position, and
her deliberation brought a howl OF
wrath from the robber: Get into that
line, you!"
Mrs. Wellington whirled on him:
"How dare you, you brute?" And she
turned up her nose at the gun.
The anxious conductor interviewed:
Better obey, madame; he's an ugly
lad"
II don't mind being robbed" said