The enterprise. [volume] (Harlem, Mont.) 1899-1926, 1916-09-07

started nor what became Of young
Gushing thereafter.
The lady leaned over confidentially.
"Thats not the worst though I've
heard he drank" She said it breath
lessly with open shame.
Her listener didn't seem particularly
Mortified.
well, he ct, too, as l recall it now
"Yes, yes. | don't mean that way.
He drank whisky Think of it,
Il often do" said Shorty, licking his
lips. "Why?"
I'VE heard he was dead" she con-
tinued sadly. ut nearly killed mother
and as soon as my school closed l
came out to sell the mine just think
50 600 right in that box. Won't that
come in handy for ,1s:'
Shorty lowed it would.
I'VE can't be too kind to our moth
ers. can we? she smiled at him
brightly.
a s'pose not Whatre they like:
l was drug UP on goats milk an cut
my teeth OH chewin tobacaer.
The young lady told him, greatly to
his interest.
They reached Number Two in q rat
Ting burst of speed, and as the fresh
animals were bent in the driver in
quired: ". Where's them messengers:
Hey. You there"
The stahleman started from his star
ing admiration of the passenger.
Guess they're late. reckon youll
meet 'cm in few miles"
AS they left the relay station Shorty
admitted that he was uneasy. and
when after a few miles the Wells
Fargo men failed to appear his I'm
easiness grew. They We're threading
deep into the heart of l3art's stamp.
ing ground by now. and at every hill
and every curve the driver strained
ahead for Il glimpse of the tardy es,
cort.
He concealed his forebodin@s from
the Girl. for he had acquired a strange
feeling for her, a feeling that had
grown rankly with the demise of his
shyness. fostered, no doubt, by the
warmth of her gentleness and which
was too unusual as yet to permit Of
analysis.
Swinging past an elbow in the trail
the stage rushed rattling down across
d gully. thence up a gentle rise, where
the horses slowed. AS it topped this
the girl shreked muffedly and the
driver leaned back on the reins. ours
ing.
lnstinctively he approved of the fact
that his passenger did not crouch
against him, as any other woman
would under sudden fright. but in.
stead sat tight and still. leaving him
free and unha mpered
Two figures had risen from the top
of the bank, armed, masked and SIN
lister, One, the familiar form Of Black
Bart. tall debonair, hooking; the 9th
err. a stranger whom Shorty had never
seen before. Each carried W'inches.
ter, the taller man holding his loosely
III his followed arm, the other half
leEeled IN the position for quick action.
Before the horses had reared at the
back pull the little teamster had grasp
A''N"'N
'uck which sent two men against him
OIL this Of all days.
1t had come too suddenly for him to
formulate a plan Of action. Moreover
it was contrary 10 all precedent for a
driver 10 assume other than passive
duties. lie even doubted whether road
etiquette permitted it, Still, it was
quite impossible that his companion
should lose her fortune
AS these thoughts hurtled through
his brain he likewise weighed the odds
against him. Even if he got one the
other would probably kill him where
lie sat. Bart he knew fer a deadly
shot. whereas the stranger seemed odd
~ shaEen-reguar buck fever appar
entity. from his trembling. EviGentl!
it We're better to wing Bart if possible
the other man might miss.
Black Bart was speaking "0h
Better cargo than bullion this trip