Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1917-07-11

started nor what became of young
Gushing thereafter.
The lady leaned over confdentially.
That's not the worst though. I've
heard he drank" She said it breath
lessly with open shame
Her listener didn't seem particularly
Mortified
Wei, he ct, too, as / recall it now
Yes, yes! l 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. 1T nearly killed mother.
and as soon as my school closed ]
came out to sell the mine. Just think
$4,000 right in that box. Won't that
come in handy for us?"
Shorty lowed it would.
I'VE can't be too kind to our moth
ers, can we?" she smiled at him
brightly.
Il s'pose not. What're they like?
was drug up on goats milk an cut
my teeth on chewin tobaccer."
The young lady told him, greatly to
his interest.
They reached Number Two in a rat
Ting burst of speed, and as the fresh
animals were bent in the driver in
CURED; Where's them messengers
Hey! You there!'
The stableman started from his star
ing admiration of the passenger
Guess they're late. | reckon you'll
meet 'em in a 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 un
easinesS grew. They were threading
deep into the heart of Bart's stamp.
ing ground by now, and at every hill
and every curve the driver strained
ahead for glimpse Of the taruy es
cOrt
He concealed his forebodings 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 rafting down across
gully, thence up a gentle rise, where
the horses slowed. AS it topped this
the girl shrieked mufredly, and the
driver leaned back on the reins, ours
ing.
Instinctively 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 unhampered.
Two figures had risen from the ton
Of the bank, armed, masked and sin
ister One, the familiar form of Black
Bart, tall debOnair, mocking; the 9th
er. a stranger whom Shorty had never
seen before. Each carried a Wincbes
ter, the taller man holding his loosely
in his followed arm, the other half
leyeled in the position for quick action
Before the horses had reared at the
back pull the little teamster had grasp
ed these points and swore again at the
luck which sent two men against him
on this of all days.
It had come too suddenly for him to
formulate d plan of action. Moreover.
1t was contrary to all precedent for a
driver to assume other than passive
duties. He 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
he sat. Bart he knew for a deadly
shot, whereas the stranger seemed odd
~ shaken-regular buck fever appar
emily, from his trembling. Evidently
it were better to wing Bart If possible
the other man might miss.
Black Bart was spea king. 'soh!
Better cargo than bullion this trip.