THE ROANOKE NEWS, THURSDAY, MARCH 31,
1...
B
j C THE STAGE ROBBERS.
How a Rocky Mountain
Ban-
(Ut Was Reclaimed.
"Ill, there! G'lang, g'lanfjt- Whoa,
Black IlawUl Slow, Jenny, old pal!
t-r-r-r-iff-'lang now."
All this noiso was made by the Lonp
town stage coach, as it rattled down a
long hill, swaying from side to side in
the most threatening and vacillating
manner, and nearly running on the
heels of the spirited horses who dashed
ahe4 in reckless haste, us the snapper
f th6 driver's whip touched them up.
There were lour outside passengers
and six inside the coach, two of whom
were women. One was a lean, shriv
eled Now England woman who was
worn to a thread by work and worry,
and who looked troubled Mho had
been looking for Accidents and robbers
ever since she left the cars and entered
upon a journey by stage coach. At
every lunge of the vehiclo she would
ejaculate: "Mercy me!" and dig her at
tenuated fingers into the sides of the
coach as if to restrain it by main force
Irora toppling over.
"I'm going to spend tho winter with
my darter I'risellly, near Longtown,"
she said to her vis-a-vis, "if tho stage
ain't upsot and everybody killed fust"
The girl opposite smiled in a radiant
way. She sparkled and scintillated
with good health, good humor, and tho
jubilant spirit of youth. Iter checks
were reddened with the elixir of life at
nineteen; dimples twinkled in cheek
bnd chin. Her eyes shone liko stars.
Her riotous hair curled defiantly all
about her fresh young face and blew
in willful tendrils over her pretty cars.
"I don't think there is any danger,"
she said, reassuringly, to her traveling
companion; "the driver is used to the
horses, and the horses are used to the
road. It is delightful to me. I am so
fond of excitement, and my life has
been so uneventful. I really am pining
ior adventure."
"I dessay," retorted the first speaker,
the gruesome visaged woman, "them
that knows nothin' fear nothin,' my
lather uster say. I should prefer not
to hev my neck broken afore I get to
toy journey's end. I'd like to know
what Priscilly would say?"
"I've hecred there was grizzlies
round the gulches," observed a travel
er who was evidently taking his first
trip west
"B'ars? Real live b'ars?" inquired
Priscilly's mother, in a horrified tone.
"I knew it! I've felt' it in my bones
ever since I left hum! Oh, latvs-a-tnarcy!
there's one now," and she
shrieked and clawed the coach as a
huge cinnamon-colored animal bounded
round u curve ahead of them.
It wasn't a bear, but a mastiff. They
were close to the Two Forks tavern.
Where they stopped to change horses
and leave one of the outsido passen
gers. Both women left the coach for a bit
Of a walk, to stretch themselves and
ffet the use of their limbs. Then the
supple form of the girl passenger
showed to fino advantage in the long,
close-fitting ulster, which was belted
at the slender waist with a band of al
ligator skin.
"That's a gal from the states," sug
gested a young fellow who was stand
ing in tho door of the tavern waiting
Ior the coach; "I know it by her gait
Hope she goes to Longtown. We don't
see that sort every day. Wonder who
is expecting visitors like her?"
"Cawn't say, Ben," drawled the
driver; "she'sa purty piece of flcsh-an'-blood
to look at, ain't she? Say!
Bow are the roods to Longtown?
Clear?"
"I haven't heard of any trouble. Tho
colonel 'lows there won't be any, but
that's when he's sober. lie was on a
big tear last week. I've made him
promise to send for his daughter and
turn over a new leaf."
"Don ye do it, Ben. Let the gal stay
where she be. What kind of a place is
the kurnel's for a gal that's been de
cently brung up? He'll drink hisself
to death some of these days, and it'll
be the best thing for him an' his'n.
'Beady, Ben? Ye kin jump in or dim'
up."
"1 believe I'll go as an outside this
time, Sim," said the young man, with
a rather conscious look
"Allee right, Git up thor, you lazy
bones" to the horses. "Whoa, now,
no foolln'; st-r-rr-g'lang, my beauties!"
The four horses started with a long
pull, a strong pull and a pull all to
gether. The travelers were "all
aboard" all except one, and she was
out of sight They rattled down one
short hill and up another, when a long
'stretch of mountain road lay before
them, with not a soul in sight The
driver reined in his team.
"The gal is lost," he called down
through the front of the coach; "I'll
bet she's tooken the road to Miner-
Tille."
- "Can you go back?" asked the young
man, anxiously. Somehow the lonely
figure of the young - girl walking that
t strange road into unknown peril,
loomed before his eye l like a mirage.
V'Cawn't do It," drawled Sim; "but if
-!'- ;v, for Juuf life I uiiKi't Wilt till
'. thar and bring her back."
''' a groan from the inside of
n0ynnr man shot out
y. and started off on his
fSJIy say?" asked the
cjie woman within,
re an b'ars in sight?"
J's mether.
( f this present rain nit,
. y.d Sim, touching up the
us wuip, men ruining
their haunches as he
bc-
jhj of his promise to wait
54her provoking to those tired
fily passengers to see the two
fntia ones come huclc oJHn n. trlnw
daughter and exercise as if they had
, vm unw VUUU1CU UU VU
a lartt. Per-
'iisps it occurred to the
younaf woman
I, uerscii mat n
was a little unconven
tional she would have said that was
why she enjoyed it; but appearances
must be preserved, and she took her
place demurely h-r the side of Priw.il.
ly'S mother and told her apologies in a
"whisper.': .
And all that time she felt that she
did not half appreciate the escape she
had made. What if they hod gono on
without her? And the night comvig
en. She felt that she owed sincere
gratitudo to this stranger who had re
membered her.
At nightfall they stopped at a rough
board shanty where a supper was
awaiting them. It sent out a stream
of appetizing odors for hungry people.
There were ham and eggs, pork and
beans, fried pork with cream gravy,
salt-rising bread and good coffee a
meal fit for a king.
They all sat down together Sim,
tho driver, with them and ate as if
famished. Tho young girl sat epposito
Ben, so ho had a good chance to study
her, and as ho looked his brows knit
and he seemed perplexed. Of whom
did she remind him? He had not been
able to ask her a single question on
that flying trip from the wrong road
Bhe had run as fleet as a deer, laughing
at every step over her mistake. Ifow
sho was grave, with a devotion to her
supper that absorbed all her attention.
And there was something familiar in
every turn of her head, in her rich,
ripe color, In the sparkle and dash of
her beauty. Who was she?
They wero delayed again, this time
by a horso casting a shoe at the last
moment While tho hostler was acting
as temporary blacksmith, tho passen
gers grouped themselves in or about
tho coach. Hero the young man ven
tured to ask a question, which he could
not have done when they were making
that breathless run to the coach.
"Going far?" ho asked, Indifferently.
"No; I havo been traveling ly rail
for a week, but now I am nearly homo.
I am going to Longtown."
"Home? Longtown? Why, that is
where 1 live!"
He Could not disguise tho pleasure
that tho announcement gave him, nor
tho complete surprise it was to hear
her speak of Longtown as "home."
"Do you live there?" She spoke with
eagerness now. "I am glad, for you
must know CoL Robert Sheldon."
"Certainly I knov him. Ho has lived
there a good many years. Most people
know him. Oh, yes, CcL Bob is very
well known indeed in all these pnrts. "
"I was sure of it Then you can tell
mo something ubou him. You see I
do not know hitn at all. and" with a
hysterical little lair'h "I am going to
visit him."
"Then he must be a relative of
yours?" said the young man with a pe
culiar inflection of voice that was not
observed by the girl '
"Ho is. Yes, indeed, we are quite
relatives. 1 mean we are related, but
it is some years since 1 have seen him,
and I do not remember how he looks."
"Oh, he looks well enough ho is
very handsome, but you surely cannot
to going alone to visit such a man as
Col. Bob?"
"Such a man?" her voico was full of
indignation, and she turned away with
out another word and sought tho pro
tection of l'riscilly's mother, by whose
side she was soon seated in tho coach.
The young man who had offended
her did not enter the coach until it was
ready to resume its tiip; then he sat
down by the door in the most unobtru
sive manner, und renained quiet
It was a munificent night The
road skirting the foothills of the
Rockies was lighted by a full moon.
Not a sound was heard except tho roll
and rumble of tho hurrying coach, and
the rapid steps of tho galloping horses.
Some of the passengers wero asleep;
the grumpy old man snored a duet
with Priscilly's m other, whoso head re
posed on the shoulders of the young
girl, who was not asleep. The young
man at the door of tho coach was also
awake, and anxious. He had been
fumbling at something in his hip
pocket Suddenly there was a sound
the cry of a catamount, perhaps, but
it gave tho horses a start and they
plunged ahead foster 'than before.
"Ben." as the driver had called him It
was his name, too looked at the girl.
men ne rose ana mauo nis way over
the feet of the other passengers to her.
"Arc you afraid?" he asked, in a low
tone.
Before she could answer the coa:h
was surrounded by masked men, armed
to the teeth.
"Halt!"
"Hands up! If any man pulls a gun,
ho will bo shot."
"Hand out your valuables!"
The conflict was short and decisive.
One man stood outside and gave the
; orders, the others robbed .the posse n
: gers, without violence, but at the muz
! zlo of a revolver. The only man who
showed fight received a bullet through
I the shoulder. It was Ben, who at
I tempted to defend the two women
I with his revolver.
"Let them take my money and my
I jewels!" cried tho "young1 girl, with
superb scorn, "but when my father
. hears of it ho will bring them to pun
1 ishment you may be assured!"
"W ho is he, miss?" asked one of the
outlaws, with mock modesty.
"Ho is CoL Robert Sheldon, of Long
town," answered the girl, proudly.
"Oh, my God!" exclaimed Ben as he
sunk with a bullet in his shoulder and
lay In a heap In the straw flooring of
the coach.
There was a hurried consultation
outside, and then one of tho masked
men reentered the coach.'
"It was all a jolco," ho said in a dis
guised voice, "und If that hot-headed
young fool had kept still there
woudn't have been any harm done.
Take your money and valuables, but
as you value your lives keep your hands
up. Go ahead; drive off with you."
lie fired his pistol in tho air by way
of expediting their departure, then,
as the horses galloped away, he disap
peared with his comrades in the oppos
ite direction.
Tho coach went Into Longtown on
one wheel, the horses lathered with
! foam. The two women alighted, pale
as ghosts.
l!en was carried into tho
Longtown
stretcher.
hotel on an improvised
"Notybit of danger," said tho local
medic an hour or two later. lie was
talking to the pretty girl of the stags
coach.
"He'll be out again in a month. Too
can go in and see him if yoa wish,
miss.":,,, , .
-J.
"What Is his name?" she asked,
hurriedly.
"Ben llolcombe,"' unswercd tho doc
tor; "he's ono of our most promising
young men. I'd like to string up the
wretches who shot him!"
The young woman entered the parlor
softly, and sa.iv by tho dull flamo of a
flaring oil lamp tho young man
bolstered up on tho sofa. , Her beauti
ful eyes filled with tears.
"It is very strange," she said, "but I
cannot find my father. There is some
thing wropg! What is it?"
"Did ho expect you?" asked Ben,
faintly.
"No. I camo to take him by sur
prise. 1 wrote mat l was sending mm
a present It Is six years since I
havo seen him. Ho is all I havo in the
world."
"Your father will be here in tho
morning; ho is out on his ranch, no
doubt, and I have sent for him."
"Have you? Oh, how kind you havo
been to me! What should I havo done
without your help? 1 do hope you are
not seriously injured. Was it not
strange that those wretches should
have given up their booty?"
"Not under tho circumstances. You
see they have rules among themselves,
and when you oh, what am 1 saying?
I am getting light headed," and hi
turned deadly pale.
"And no wonder. I will say good
night, though it must be almost good
morning. 1 hope you will be able to
send my father to me, and that you
will rest well."
Ben llolcombe did not rest at all, for
the emissaries whom ho had sent out
for Col. Bob brought him in drunk,
ugly and half-crazed with excitement
What took place in the two hours of
angry talk between the men no ono
knew, but tho next morning found
Ben llolcombe delirious in a high
lever, and Col. Bob. clothed and In his
right mind, conversing affectionately
with his daughter, but looking every
where except into her clear, reproving
eves. But she never suspected.
"Wasn't it a surprise, papa, dear," sho
kept repeating as she playfully pulled
his whiskers, and half smothered him
with kisses.
"I should say it was," gasped
the colonel, with a deep suspirntion.
"And we'll havo a lovely winter to
gether, you and I?"-
"And Ben-"
"Oh. I forgot I suppose as ho saved
me from those dreadful bandits, we
must Include him. Tapa, what an in
lluencc you must have, when just to
k now that I was your daughter made
thcin give back my diamonds tho
grand diamonds you sent inc. I only
cared for them for that You must be
a very great and good man!"
"God helping me, I will be," he an
swered, with tho first reverent feeling
he had known for years.
That all happened a year ago. Tho
other day Sim, the driver of tho Long
town stage coach, brought an immense
box with him, which ho left at the
Longtown hotel.
"It's for Kurnel Bob's daughter," he
said, as he deposited it in the house.
"What's in it?" nsked the landlord
"I redton I nin't opened it," an
swered Sam, "but I heard them Bay
there was a eruio in it I reckon it's
come from tho states."
When the colonel's daughter heard
that her "cruso" had arrived sho
laughed heartily; so did her father, the
colonel; so did Ben nolcombo.
"What air you gain' to give her fur a
weddin' present Ben?" asked Sim tho
next day. Sim had a pair of little red
mittens in his pocket that his old
mother had knit out of the finest
Saxony yarn to ba had for love or
money. They wero for her. . "What
you goin' to give her?" ho repeated
"Myself," answered Ben, humbly,
"and 1 hopo love will sanctify the
Rift."
"Lord!" said Sim, with a comical
grin, "what'll Priscilly say?" Mrs. M,
L. Ray dc in Detroit Free Press.
NAMED FROM A SAINT.
Orlcln of the Terra Urldnwell Applied
to llouum of Correction.
Bridewell Is a word now commonly
used to designate a city prison or
house of correction. The origin of the
ter.ra is very curious. As is generally
known. St Bridget is the patroness of ;
Ireland, sharing honors with St.
Patrick. She lived in the sixth cen
tury and had her first cell or homo
where tho city of Kildarc now stands. (
For some unexplained reason St.
Bridget was unusually popular In Scot
land and England, though she was
best known there by tbo abbreviated
name of St Bride. Many houses of
worship were In the olden time dedi
cated to her memory, and among them
was St Bride's church in Fleet fitreet,
London. v., udjoining this church
was an old well also dedicated to the
saint and commonly called Brido's
well. A palace which was built near
the well tool; the name of Bridewell.
This wss presehted by Edward VI. to
the city of London ns a workhouse for
tho poor and a house of correction, and
gradually Us name became associated
la the public mind with all houses used
for a similar purpose. It secret strange
thut tt criTninul itittion ffhmld
its appellation to a saint representing
all that is pure and innocent, but such
is the case here if the opinion of anti
quarians is to be accepted. The 1st of
February Is St Bridget's day.
Cn Ton t'rononno. TbM. Corrcctlr?
The following Is a list cf nil the
words which have recently been mis
pronounced in the course of an ex
tended contest at various school-teach-era'
conventions throughout tho coun
try. In one instance not less than
1,400 school-teachers failed in properly
pronouncing the following- words, it
is a test, by the way, which very few
men of wide study tind great precision
of speech could withstand:
Gladiolus, grimace, grimy, gyre, hal
ibut, haunt, homage, laundry, leisure,
naively, swarthy, slough, sough, spl a
sch, condolence, casslmere, cognomen,
predilection, shough, senile, rapine.
conjure, construe, contumely, clique,
maritime, recess, resume, sacrifice,
vizor, swsths, brooch, exile, irrefraga
ble, garrulity and squalor. a. Y.
Truth.
ADVERTISEMENTS.
ft V T , " 1
'tr- rMUS C"S w
r IF Vr
LIPPMAN BROS., Proprietors,
DrioBlttt, Llppmsn'i Blcck.' SAVANNAH, CA.
For Sale by W. M. COHEN.
apr23 ly
LAND SALE.
VALUABLE FARMS FOR SALE IN
HAI-IFAX COUNTY, N. C:
0'
k NE FARM CON'TAINO 534 ACRES
6 horse crop cleared, good pasture,
never failing stream, apple and peach or
chard, good dwelling and necessary out
houses.
PRICE $2,000.
0
NE TRACT OF 200 ACRES, .ONE
horse crop clenred, most of the other
in fine growth of pines; good dwelling snd
out houses.
PRICE $1,000.
0
NE TRACT OF 83 ACRES, ONE
horse crop cleared, the bnlaoVe in
heavy growth ofoiiiual pines.
PRICE $400.00.
0
NE TRACT OF 314 ACRES, TWO
horse crop cleared, the balance in fine
growth of oak snd pine.
PRICE $1,000.
0
NE TRACT OF 46D ACRES, 3 HORSE
crop cleared; good dwelling snl si)
neefssarv oot-honow.
PRICE $2,000.
0
N E TRACT OF 830 ACRES, FIVE
horse crop cleared'; good dwelling sn
out-houses.
PRICE $2,500.
These farms are convenient to churches,
In s healthy locality, snd s short distance
from Halifax snd Enfield. Parties wishing
to buy snd want to
EXAMINE :-: THESE-:-LANDS
Will call on MR. THOMAS OUSBY, Hen
derson, N. C, or MR. T. C. BURGESS,
who li ves near Halifax, who will take pleas
ore in showing them to purchasers.
Any or sll of these lands will be
IRElSTTIEilD
ON REASONABLE TERMS
FOB 180.
wsM . WeMe,H.C.
jtmt.au na. flaf.efe.iaW.w tm mjtei jg-M
AJitHiwaWaefcerWjHjNi
v1- i It '
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H. J,
WATCHMAKER
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THE NEW YORK WORLD
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joys and sorrows are before us oot on
behind,
In THE WORLD'S wotk for 1891
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7 - J
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