The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1920-06-25


no squarer Teller nowheres. He's got
q thin face with high forehead and
thin, good-lookin' nose and a mouth
that's just a slash in his face when
he amt smilin', which is unusual.
When that there smile is gone, his
is hard as iron, and strong as
hemp.
And over there, across the polished
wood, Jeff's face was kind of good
lookin' since he'd picked up; hand
some, l guess, you'd call it, but unlike
Sims. You might call it weak, but
maybe it was jest kiddish.
Slim says: 81 slipped you that
word that day son, because I knowed
you had right to your chance and
it looked like you was hittin' the
right trail. That's good bunch you
was flockin' with. Them boys are all
solid gold, and old Tom, he's the
prince of 'em all. This here is a good
country to get to make a new start.
Back yonder it's different. There
amt nowhere you can go that some
pigeon amt SEEM you sooner or later,
and then-you can't blame man for
not wantin' to hire jail-bird.
81 didn't fgger you out right away,
but after you left l looked you up.
You was sent up for forgery. You
had clean record up to then, but
you'd been up against a run of hard
luck, and there was a skirt, if l re
member. And you slumped and slip
ped a guys name to a paper he hadn't
signed.
Old Slim stops to roll cigaret, and
Jeff is jest standin' there with mis-
head down, twirlin' that spur with his
boot-toe. you remember I was a
trusty there, kid. I'd been there seven
years when you come, and l booked
you and got your record. l remember
your sentence-three years. 1t shore
did seem light to me, but / knowed
that three years wasn't all Them was
jest the years you'd get inside. 1t
was after you'd get out that hell
would start"
Slim reaches out and puts his hand
ever on Jeff's shoulder thataway and
says:
Now, kid" says he, you amt goin
to leave Bedding on the twelve-fve.
amt goner let you. That about yer
old man dyin' is a lie. You can't put
that by Slim
Well jeff Pushes up some and he
quits spinnin' his spur and stonds UP
away from the bar, but he don't look
Slim in the face. He can't somehow,
meet them blue fires that's burnin' in
the barkeep's eyes. Old Sims mouth
is plumb hard, too, with the smile all
wiped off thataway.
81 was willin' for you to have your
chance says Slim, and his voice
shore is plumb refrigerated, "and I
amt no stoolpigeon. But I'm law
abidin' citizen, son, and / won't stand,
for nothin' like this. Tom Blodgett is
a friend of mine. He's shore been a
friend to you. He's done you the big
gest favor any man ever done an
other. He's give you a chance and
you're payin' him back, rewardin' his
trust thataway, by stealin' his money.
| know, see? He takes the money 10
the ranch today He shows it to mt
in here before he left-mostly them
big yellow boys. I'm an ex-con, kid.
but that shore don't go none with me.
Well, jest for minute it looked
like that there puncher was goin' to
fight it through. His face was plumb
red in the bar light, and he looks
Slim now in the face, mean, plumb
mean, and he's shakin' all over like
he's got a chill he's so mad and his
eyes is blazin' But old Slim is So
darn cold standin' there and beatin'
-Jeff's eyes down with that look Of
his that the kid can't make no head
way, and in a minute he weakens
thataway and drops his head and
leans up ag'in' the bar, reachin' for
the bottle.
"All right, Slim" he says low, Ego
ahead and call the sheriff. I had my
chance, and l was too big darn fool
to hang to it. 1t amt no use nohow.
1 guess I'm jest a nat'ral-born crook" "
Old Slim don't say a word for a
minute. He jest stands there and
rolls another cigaret and gives the kid
the once over plumb careful. Some
of the hardness kind of goes out of
his face and his mouth amt quite that
straight, thin line it has been. After
he's finished rollin' his smoke and
has licked it and lit up, he begins TO
talk again:
Listen to me kid" he says, gen
tie, like he's talkin' to nervous
bronze. 'You ain'tn goin' to leave
Belding tonight on no 1905 train
You're goin' to git on that there
cayuse of yours out there at the rack
and light out for the old Lonesome l..
"You and me is the only humans
on earth that knows about this here