The Arvada enterprise., 1920-02-26

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"Yes. he won all the Beaucaire
property. including the slaves, In q
poker game, ON the river. the night
Beaucaire died"
"Ah done heerd all bout dat, sab.
An yer nebber know'd dis yere girl
afore OF air.
mo. never even saw her. I
chaneed to hear the story and went
to the house to warn them. n NO one
else would. ( was too late. and NO
other course was left but to help her
escape. That Ii the whole Of It." y
he asked several other questions,
but at last appeared satisfied. and
after that We discussed the guard duty
Of the day. both agreeing 1t would not
be safe for u to permit any possible
pursuit to pass BY rs up the river un-
seen. Sam professed himself a. nm.
wearied by the nights work and will
ing to stand the first watch. I lay
down In the tree shade, and must
have fallen asleep almost Immediately.
I do not know what aroused me. but
I Immediately sat upright. startled
and instantly awake. the first object
confronting me being Sam on the
crest Of the opposite ridge. eageIV
beckoning me to Join him. The mo-
ment he was assured Of my coming,
and without % much a. uttering
word Of explanation. he vanished
Into the shadow Of the woods.
I crossed the ravine with reckless
haste. clambering up the opposite
bank. and sixty feet beyond suddenly
came into view Of the broad expanse
Of water. Scarcely had I giimpsed this
rolling flood. sparkling under the
suns rays. when my gaze turned up.
stream, directed BY an excited gesture
Of the negro. Less than q mile away,
its rapidly revolving wheel churning
the water into foam In ceaseless battle
against the current, was q steamboat.
A number Of moving figures were per-
ceptible on the upper deck. I stared
at the apparition. scarcely eompre-
hending the reality Of what I beheld.
Yer bettah stoop down more, sah."
Sam urged. "Fer sum o. dem fellars
might see yer yet. All nebber heerd
nuthin' ner saw no smoke till she
cum a-pufiin' round de end O. dat pint.
All cudn't dare 90 fer yer then. sah,
fer fear dey'd see me. 20 All Jus
nat'arly lay down yere an watched
her 90 BY"
rs It q government boatr
"Ah reckon maybe; leastwise thar's
heap O. sojers aboard her-reglars,
An reckons, fer dey's all in uniform.
But everybody aboard wasn't sojers."
You know the steamerf"
"Yas, sab. Abs seed her face afore
dis down ct st. Louee. She uster run
down Dc ribber-she's de John B.
Glover. She amt no great shakes oh
boat, sah."
His eyes. which had been eagerly
following the movements Of the craft,
turned and glanced at me. "Massa
Kirby he wus aboard dat steamer.
sah."
Kirby, Are you sure about that.
samr
"'Course Ais sure. Didn't All ses
him just n plain a. All see you right
nowf He wus forrad BY de rail. near
de pilot house. a-watchin' dis whole
shore like . hawk. Dat sure wus
Aassa Kirby all right. but dar want
nobody else Tong wild him."
But what could he be doing there
on . troop boatr'
The negro scratched his head, mo-
mentarily puzsled by my question.
"Ah sure don't know. sah." he ad.
mitted. "Only dat's persackly who It
was. All figure It out bout dis way.
sah: dat nobody kin tell yit which
way we went-up Dc ribber er down
d ribbse. Long cum de John B.
Glover. aA' Hassa Kirby he Just take
Q chance an soss aboard. Do sheriff
he goes der odder way. downstream
In q rowboat: an dat's how deg aims
ter sure head ~ o6."
I sat down at the edge Of the blum.
convinced that the conclusions Of the
negro were probably correct. That
was undoubtedly about how It had
happened. To attempt pursuit up
stream with only oars a. propelllns
power would b senseless, but the pas
sage upward Of this troop boat at.
fordsd Kirby an opportunity he would
not be slow to accept. Getting aboard
would present NO great difaculty. and
his probable acquaintance with the
captain would make the rest easy.
The steamer BY this time was NOV.
ing diagonally across the river. head
toward the other shore. and was ai.
ready 20 far away the men on deck
were invisible. Il was scarcely prob
able that Kirby would 20 far north
ward. but Just what course the man
would take when once more ashore
was probiema tical. Where hs might
choose to seek for - opuld not be
guessed. Yet the mere fact that be
was already above - O. the river was
II itself q matter for grave eonsid.
GRAFTON. Still thus far ws remained
unlocated. and there was less danger
In that direction than downstream.
Once we attained the Illinois and
~nA~ aRe.mn>spnnntn W4th 0herok thA