The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1914-01-17


Here's the point" said Hoff-
meister. "lf we send a messenger
they'll know there's treasure
aboard. The stage has been stuck
up so often it's getting habitual.
We've got to use ingenuity. I've
wired to Horn for two Wells
Fargo men. They'll meet you at
the second relay, so you pull out
alone, as usual, and pick 'em up
there"
Shorty nodded acquiencence.
All the same, | amt weighed
down with suppressed glee at
bein' duenna for thirty thousand
dollars, even for twenty mile
that is, not in the immoral vicinz
tiles of this neighborhood."
"Oh. there's no danger this side
of Number Two. It'll be on the
Big Grade if it's anywhere"
Let me impress on you onct
and forever that there amt no
danger to me in neither place
I'm the driver. Black Bart knows
that the olive wreaths of peace
and concord is grated on to me,
and sproutin' like asparrowgrass.
It's the messenger that fills the
exactin' duties of imitatin' the
back end of a shootin' gallery"
Hoffmeister and his companion
drank: the large man wetting the
bottom of his glass with the Wit
rol. and tossing it off wryly; the
other filling his to the brim, and
rolling it in his mouth like
toothwash.
81 suppose" said the superin-
tendent, having coughed the par
aiysis from his vocal cords, ''you
saw the girl that came up yestef-
day with Newcomb?"
What! Girl here? In this
camp" Shorty showed extreme
trepidation. "Why. | come off up
here on purpose to get shed of
EN-"
Yes, / only caught a glimpse
of her myself, but what l saw
looked mighty pretty"
The driver groaned. It'll be
| just my Internal luck to run slap
into her, an If do I'll stampede
like a buffalo calf, see If | don't"
What's the matter with your"
well, it's this way. The min
| ute l see skirts / go plumb dippy
my eyes hang out like loose
ulster buttons, an them little hot
springs in my mouth goes dry till
my throat feels like ! was beatin'
carpets in a closet. My speech
splinters up and sticks in my neck
like | was eatin' sun perch in the
dark"
A man inserted his head
through the door and yelled: "All
aboard"
The two men carried the mes
senger box from the rear room,
lifting it on to the booth. The
| postmaster tossed dyspeptic
mailbag into the stage body, and
the driver scrambled to his throne
with dignity. Then, as he gath
cred his reins, the voice of Pes
Leg" the landlord, came to him.
Hey! Wait a minute-pas-
senger fer you, Shorty"
| There was a rustic and scurry,
and the jehu's widening gaze be-
held flashing, white-clad, femi-
nine figure, petite and pic
turesque. 1t launched itself upon
him, more dreadful than
plague, and he froze in his seat.
"Oh, | want to ride up there"
she cried brightly, and Shorty's
heart turned to water. He slid
dumbly along till he crowded the
edge, while she was lifted by
willing hands, settling beside him
like bit of thistle-down.
"All right, Shorty" said peg
Leg. "Good-by, miss. Come
again." and the populace of For
est Hill DOTTED felt and fur to
sweep the ground in a Chester
fieldian salute. The men at the
rearing horses heads watched the
driver vainly waiting the signal
to let go, but his eyes were row.
ing helplessly. He licked his lips
and opened his mouth. There
issued-silence, broken only by
the tramp of the dancing animals.
| Theatrically, II was a stage
wait, silent, agonizing, sweat
producing, with a delighted au-
dience grinning its approval. He
swallowed desperately. the preci-
pice of his aesophagus like an
ore-skip diving into a shaft. His
body doubled convulsively, and
fthere came a cough, unheralded
and sharp-as sudden, metallic,
and loud as the exhaust of a
switch engine on frosty morn
ffng. Men and horses leaped to-
gether. and they we're snatched
llefattering into full flight. Stimuli
feaneously there was a jolting
tcfash and muffled squeak from
lItbe girl.
frsq oh, lasting disgrace! Shorty
had taken out the corner post OF
the hotel porch.
q Under her tactfu1 loquacity the
Eaust dissolved in Shorty's mouth,
larynx, and sounds born of intel
| the CONSTRUCTED paralysis left his
fect began to issue. hoarse and
unintelligible at first, but ap-
proximating rhetoric of kind.
Never in his life had the little
man been so long in the company
of the unknown sex, and now this
unwonted intimacy with its most