Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1914-06-13
CHAPTER u.-(Continued)


when, deceived by an apparently com
plete surrender, his captor grew care
less and loosened his grip on the turns
OF his RATA about his saddle-horn
away dashed the mule, galloping dowr
Grade and followed by the party
Reaching stretch of road that was
mere shelf along the edge Of a Cliff
that fell sheer sixty feet to slope
thickly strewn with boulders, he stop
ped stiff-legged, on the brink and stooc
for an instant looking down.
Then, after gazing back at his pur
suers moment, muzzle raised hlgh
and eyes blazing hatred, contempt, de-
aance, and perhaps-who may venture
20 dispute TIA proud JOY OF the sure
escape he had planned, he leapeot 1al
out into space.
AS the posse sat their 'pantlne
mounts, gazing in awe down upon the
pulpy black blotch that lay quite still
among the boulders, a grizzled OLD
mountaineer remarked:
"Fellers. wish't had woman that
thought as much O. me as that thar
mule thought Of Toni"
Beats hell, don't it?' observed. an
other. "Pow'ful human sort O thing
TO do, want it? Mule just naturally
lowed it couldn't live without Tom"
pounding along the trail north after
that bit of a scrap, and especially after
learning that all but the one l doWned
and the wounded man had escaped,
was for me a pretty 'scary'' job. Ot
course 1t was only a guess as TO Wnich
Rav the bandits had scattered, ana l
found it hard to get it out OF my head
that they were likely to be laying lor
me. to even things up for my inter
terence in their game.
Then when, near Shasta, few days
later. I heard shouts below me, was
not slow racing into side ravine and
hiding nv horse Then, when crept
hack close to the trail and hid behind
= log I could see under, it was onl y
moment before two men, each spleh-
didly mounted and heavily armed, rode
,p directly in front Of me and stopped.
One refining his own horse back on MS
launches and, at the same time selZ-
ing the headstall of his mate mount
he said. Hold on, Peach
whats the matter?' asked tne
other: 81 don't sense anything that
spells cuidado."
"Caramba, pard," replied the first
sneaker: II smell id emigrant;
don't your.
That meant me, knew only TOO
we'll, for while sure they could not
have seen me, nevertheless, mlserap'y
ragged and travel-stained as was al.
ter months of hard journeying without
means to procure a change OF clothing;
heir highly trained olfactories had
marked me down as positively as II
they had been hunting me with
hounds. -,
And so, knowing escape to be I'M,
nossible from such pair, I mustered
courage enough-and it took plenty
TO step into the open and inquire:
sWere you speaking to me-?
when they were recovered from
~ales az laughter that doubled them
ovar their saddle-horns, the man ad-
dressed as Peach remarked: Cox,
I'll sure back your old smeller asalnst
LIQUIDS or any other hounds on Inc
coast, trailing bear or humans Aiu
then, turning to me: Wen, son, WIZ
In the hi might you pe' ana "heie
do you come from?'
Reassured somewhat by their merrl-
ment and tones, I replied, Guess I'm
the emigrant you smelled, and I've Just
come down from the Truckee Mead
ows." -,
$50. SOM" queried Peach. And
then after pause, "Cox, the kid looks
to me like he has some strips OF gooa
tough leather in him; let's adopt MN.
Adding. to me, kid, you are roxy
thought you'd hide your horse on u.s.
didn't you? But you've few tricks
"a learn and I reckon it's up TO my
mariner and me to teach you.
THAT spur on your off hind heel is
giving you away; step out yonoer anu
bring in your horse, and oanK on
straight deal with us. Come along
we'll treat you white, make you a sure
enough vaquero and see you don lose
nothing in wages
Ashamed of my stupidity in having
forgotten to remove my one spur, ior
had intended TO try to dlssempie
ownership of horse, for fear the par
would set me afoot, brought In the
little cayuse had worked SO hard 10
earn. to get from Cox "Ho: no.
looks like you have been hitting up
the Pah.Utes for ride. KID. Anu
since that amt quite our lay, Peach
at least as business, vote we pass
him up"
Resentful of the charge, | angrlly
exclaimed, prefacing my exploslon
with an oath: "I'm no thief! Here's
my bill of sale"
After both had scrutinized the DIT
OF paper, Cox laughingly spoke.
"Peach, he'll do, twice-came by ms
cayuse on the level and has his nice
little chunk of temper handy. MUST
have a plenty, too, jfor we can t look
like none too easy marks for tender
foot like him to start in cussing FORK
that cayuse, kid, and let's drift
And so started an association that
meant no end of value to me In re-
spect of training and experience for
the lifetime of dealing with the tough
est desperadoes the west has pro
duced. It was an association that
grew into as close friendship as can
exist with men as desperate and recK-
less as that pair, and that remained
unbroken until I found them drifting
into crime. They were so lmpelled
for no reason in the world put lor
their love of its incident excitement
81