Pittston Gazette

              Sfffsfw •  XlJil"Kiso! 30°" ) Oldest Newspaper in the Wyoming Vi iley. 1'ITTSTON, LUZERNE CO., PA., FRIDAY, MARCH 30, 1891. A Weekly Local and Family Journal. I $1.50 I'KR A ) IN AIA A NX SCJS his saddle blanket and was sound asleep. The plash of the waters in the brook, dancing and tumbling down the chasm, made sweet, drowsing music for his ears, a lulling, soothing sound that explained perhaps the deep slumber of his trooper friend. cover, and I'll hurry back with Walsh and what men I can find.'' aiDly tour nines away, some distance, therefore, ahead of tho supposed position of tho foe. Wing well know with what goatliko agility tho mountain Indians could speed along from rock to rock and still keep under cover, and every man who had served a month in Arizona could have predicted that if Indians in any force were within a day's march of those three stragglers ambush and death would 1)0 their fate, perhaps even when within view of their longed for goal. Th it they had not seen the sign, that they wero ignorant of the possible presenile of Apaches in the range, was manifest simply because they rode close along under the foot hills, often over tho bowldor strewn outskirts of the falda, and, though still far from them, suc h was Wing's anxiety for their safety that he rode furiously along, signaling with his left hand as though to say: "Keep out I Keep to your right t Don't go so close to the rocks!" they just lit out for all they weri worth, didn't they, Mike?" he eager]} asked his comrade, an older trooper. field hospital here a day or two my first duty will lie to write and tell your mother how bravely you havo served us, and she shall be told that you are wounded, but not in such a way as to alarm her." BTLL NYE'S NAMESAKE slowly and softly to room: Then down ho scrambled, giving one look at Moreno and his sleeping guardian as ho passed, then gave a low toned order to Walsh: "Oh, shut up, Billy! There's nothing an Apache doesn't see, but we were too far off to tell ift w many there was. 1 only saw ono as he lept away. Slinro the sergeant was nearer—ho could have seen." "Will yon pass t yon please?'' HE WRITES TO WILLIAM ON A MAT- TER OF BUSINESS Then the conversatio' freely, and we spoke of we had had in \YatC : how society was gettin " Saddle your horso again and ride just to the other side of that rock yonder apd wait for me." Oat camo a restraining nana. "Lieutenant, sho must not know at "I heard Mr. Wing tell that man to lie down and sleep," Baid Miss Harvey as the young officer's eyes seemed to darken with menace at the sight of a sentry sleeping on guard. "Moreno is securely tied, and both Patterson up there and I here are now his keepers. The senora and her daughter are in the other cave, forbidden to go noar him." William Tells of a rieasant Gathering Well ho understood that it would be impossible for him to ride away without Fanny Harvey's knowing that something of a serious nature was impending, and that ho could not get away at all without their knowing it. What he desired was to conceal from them that there was any danger from Apaches. "Sergeant Wing, it is I, Lieutenant Drummond. Look up a moment if you can. You were close to them; how many did you see?" all." "Well, sho can't, so far as I'm concerned, as I don't know her address. But think a moment; yon know and I know— Hold on, wait 1" And Drummond rose and tiptoed to a cleft in the rock through which shone a dim light. It was the entrance to tho remote inner cave where tho Harvey girls were sleeping. Assured that his words could reach there no listening ears, Drummond returned, kneeling again by the sergeant's side. "Just think, man; any moment after daybreak the Apaches may be upon us, and, who knows? it may bo my last fight. Of course I beliove that our fellows can stand them off until rescue comes, but a bullet may find me any moment, and then who is there to report your conduct and secure the recognition due you, or if the doctor should be late in coming and fever set in and this wound prove too much for your strength is there nothing that ought to bo said to her for you?" Tliat Took Place Recently Wherein a Children are not born veneration for sacred pi might be, and yet tlir prise us with tli Little Child Was liaptized — A^Storj About Jim Nye. Along the St. Lawrence River ) While the Frost Is on the Pump- [ kin and Also on the Stock. ) Last week I received from an editorial friend the following card of "Bill Nye," and I take the liberty of stating thus publicly regarding a purely persona) matter that I hope no one will get my name confused with this one, for with all the sad, sad strides I have too often made in years agone from the path of rectitude I have never bought editorial or clerical passes and half fare permits: [Copyright, 1894, by Edgar W. Nye.] ieir re "How many Indians, sir?" asked Wing faintly. J & rm lllr "Yes, how many?" V. Glancing up at the stunted cedar where Patterson stood faithful to his trust, Druinmond saw that he was peering steadily southward through tho black ficldglasses. A pause. Then at last: "I didnt Bee one, sir." CHAPTEK X. ■# tff (OOHTDfUED.) I* "O-oh—by and by. Life and the others must have theirs first. They have been in saddle much longer and farther than 1. When is M:. * Harvey to have her rest, may I ask?" Just as ho expected. both girls were eagerly awaiting him at tin* entrance to the cave. His revolvers were in there beside the rude couch on which ho had slept so peacefully. ■XI "The fellow who was enlisted In C troop last winter at Tucson and deserted last night to join this gang. He drove for the stage company last year and was discharged. He gave his name as Bland." "Who's that, sir?" Another day dawned and another patient was added to Miss Harvey's hospital list at tho caves. Tho original plan of starting on tho return soon after daybreak had now to be abandoned, as Drummond explained, because here was a man who could not stand the journey. Surely there would not be many hours before tho relief party from Stoneman, following their trail, would come speeding to the rescue, bringing to the wounded tho needed surgical skill and attention, bringing to the Harvey girts their devoted father. • Tho only question in the young lieutenant's mind as the sun rose, a burning, dazzling disk, over the distant mountains to the east was, Which will be first to reach us, friends or foes? "What do you see, Patterson?" he hailed. "Where is Wing? Any of the men coming back?" "W-e-1-1, I don't know. I'll say. 'perhaps by and by' too. Look, that man is calling yon." "Now are you ready to return to hospital and proper subjection?" asked Miss Harvey laughingly. "It is high time. What could have tempted you to climb to that high point?" In this way, urging Dick to his speed and never thinking of his own safety, intent only on saving his comrades from possible death, believing, too, that no Apache could yet have worked his way so far up the range, Wing was riding, straight as the crow flies, from thu little oasis at the mouth of thd canyon toward the ambling laggards to the sonth. His course led him along within 100 yards of many a bowlder or "Wing has gone on down the valley, sir. Some of our fellows, two or three only, were coming back, but they didn't come fast enough to suit him. Tho ambulance will be hero in a minute or two—it's just below us down the canyon now." '4 Bland 1 Henry Bland 1" exclaimed Sergeant Wing, leaping to his feet in uncontrollable excitement. "Do you mean it, sir? Had he enlisted? Do j-ou mean that ho was the man Miss Harvey spoke of—the disguised soldier, ■he called him ?" Whirling about, Wing saw his sentinel beckoning, and in a moment ho went clambering up the rocky trail, active as a mountain Apache. BILL NYE, Cut Rate K'ailroad Ticket Broker, "Why, it's tho first chanco I've had of a look around," was tho answer "This is an awfully strong spot for n place of refuse. You are safe here, safer th.-m anywhere between Yuma and Tucson, now that the former ihDhsossors are scattered. But did you hear what took Wingoff?" Chicago. Established 1872. "What is It, Patterson?" "It is signal smoke, sir, across the valley. That ain't more than eight miles away, and down hero in theTahge ain't more than six. What Indians could lie out here, I would like,to know ? Do they grow everywhere in this infernal country?" Indeed almost at the moment tho click of iron shod hoofs was heard, and the dejected mule team camo into view around a jutting point, the dingy yellow ambulance jolting after them, one soldier in the driver's seat handling the reins, the other riding behind and leading his comrade's horse. Below is the circular letter which is sent to editors tempting them to get 8 few dollars out of a disreputable transaction:And Druinmond, amazed at ing 'a emotion, gazed up to see the sergeant's features working almost convulsively, his face paling, hitf eyes full of intense anxiety. Again only painful silence. At last Wing spoke. "suwarrow," though his path itself was unobstructed. Tho sun had gone westering, and he was in the shadow. Presently. however, as Dick panted painfully, heavily, up a very gentle slope, and the sergeant came njKm the low crest of a mouudlike upheaval, he saw some 400 yards ahead a broad bay of sunlight stretching in from the glaring sea to the east, and glancing to his right noted that there was a depression in the range—something like a broad cleft in tho mountains, possibly a pass through to tho 1 iroader desert on tho other side. He gave it little thought, however. There, only a mile or so away now, came his fellow troopers, two in front, another lagging some distance behind, riding sleeoilv toward him and dangerously ciose to a number or sneitenng rocks. Intent only on them and still wishing to attract their attention, he swung his broad brimmed hat, waving it off to tho left, but with no apparent result. Confound them I Were they sound asleep? Could they never be made to see? Poor Dick was able now only to strike a feeble canter, so utterly was ho used up, and just when Wing, ltDokvpg only to tho front, was thinking that ho might as woll discontinue the spur and let his poor horso rest, they laltored forth from tho sheltering shade full upon tho tawny, sunlit sand. Then, while the sergeant's eyes were temporarily blinded by tho glare, there came from the rocks to his right a sudden flash and report. He felt at the same instant a stinging pang in the leg. He had just time to grasp his own carbine and to attempt to swing off when the second shot echoed loudly from the rocks. He felt poor Dick start and swerve; he felt him going headlong, and the next thing he knew he was vainly striving to peer into the face of the evening sun from over the quivering body of his faithful friend, unable for the moment to see tho faintest sign of an enemy, and then the blood came welling through the little hole In his worn cavalry trousers, midway between the hip bone and tho knee, and he knew ho had received a serious perhaps desperate wound. "No, lie didn't stop to explain matters. IIo simply dashed away without even a saddle. "Something 1 must look al'ter,' was all lie vouchsafed to " I understand. I appreciate all you say. But I've got to think it over, lieutenant. Givo mo an hour or so. Don't ask mo to tell you now." Chicago. Jan. 16,1894. Dear STr—As you will notice above, I have been established since 1872, and X can safely saj that I buy more editorial mileage than anj other broker in the United States. "Why, I cannot donbt it, sergeant. He ran away from ns on the discovery of Donovan's body and rode straight for Moreno's, beating us there probably by an hour or so, for no one happened to miss him." Wing tool? his glasses and long and earnestly studied the. bluish white clouds rising inr puffs, faint and barely distinguishable in the opposite heights, then fixed his gaae upon the filmy column soaring up among the dark pines at the heart of the range to the southward. His face grew graver .every minute.Wearied and shattered though he was and replete as the night had been with anxiety and vigil, Drummond climbed the goat track that led to the sentry's perch feeling full of hope and pluck and fight, Ho and his men had divided the night into watches, one being awake and astir, not even permitting himself to sit a moment, while the others slept. The fact that ho was able to send back to the caves, have an ambulance hitched in and driven down to where Wing lay wounded, and to bear him slowly, carefully, back to shelter, reaching the caves without further molestation before darkness set In. had served to convince the young commander that he could count on reasonable security for the night. Unless they know their prey to be puny and well nigh defenseless, Apaches make no assault in the darkness, and so, with tho coming of the dawn, he had about him fit for service a squad of seven troopers, most of them seasoned mountain fighters. His main anxiety now was for Wing, whose wound was severe, the bullet having gone clear through, just grazing the bone, and who, despite tho fact that Fanny Harvey early in tho night had every now end then crept noiselessly in to cool his fevered head, seemed strangely altectea mentally, seemed unnaturally flightly and wandeilng, seemed oppressed or excited alternately in a way that baffled Drummond completely, for no explanation was plausible. Two or three times during the night he had beenheard moaning, and yet the moment Drummond or, as once happened, Misa Harvey hastened to his side he declared it was nothing. "I must have been dozing and imagined the pain was greater than it was." Awake and conscious, 80 stout a Boldier as ho would be the last to give way to childish exhibitions of Buffering, yet twice Drummond knew him to be awake despite his protestation of dozing, and he did not at all like it that Wing should bury his face in his arms, hiding it from all. What could have occurred to change this buoyant, joyous, high spirited trooper all on a sudden into a sighing, moaning, womanish fellow ? Surely not a wound of which, however painful, any soldier might be proud. "Come up hero to tho mouth of the cave, Merrill." called the lieutenant. " You can unhitch and unharness just beyond, but 1 want that safe unloaded and put in here." ■say." "So be it, man. Now rest all you possibly can. It's almost day. The crags are beginning to light up back of us here already. Yes, and tho sentry's calling me now. I'll be back by and by. What is it, Patterson?" ho whispered, going to tho mouth of the cavo. If you have any oditorial mileage or masses, write to me for bids before selling them. Yours truly. "Well, tho men just in tell me the paymaster's safe was spirited off. Confound that little green box of greenbacks! Some shrewd packer among Morales' people whisked it out of the wagon and onto a burro, and now we are all keen to get it back. Of course I can't sleep again until we know. Some of our people are coming slowly :ip the valley, and Wing went on down to meet them." BBOKE WITH A J,01TD TJF.rOTtT. 1 have a little son called Jim- r Jim Nye, that's all—and one day v he was only 5 years old I requested h to do some slight thing or oilier, but kept on playing and hummin song about the "sand man." him again more firmly, for as. thing my children regard me : source of amusement than any and as he did not stir I gave L tie spank with the dictionary not hurt him, and he rather e until he looked at my face and I was in earnest, and then lii broke with a loud report I do not know that the public is interested in this line of bnsiness, but I am. I have never served as a picket fence for the disposition of goods that had a doubtful title. Every pass issued by a railroad company to an individual is distinctly nontransferable, and this traffic therefore requires the co-operation of three men who are not scrupulous, to say the least—viz, the owner of the pass, the broker who buys it and the man who afterward uses it. Wing's hands were raised on high in a gesture almost tragic, then dropped helplessly by his side. With a stifled groan the tall soldier turned abruptly away and went' striding toward the opening of the leaving Drurnmond wondering and perplexed. "Tho safe's gone, sir." "What?" "The safe's gone, sir. Wo never got it. That's what took Sergeant Wing off down the valley, 1 reckon. 1 supposed you knew it, sir, and him, too, but he didn't. Those Morales fellows got away with it on burro back while wo were chasing the white wagon." For a moment Drummond stood astounded."I'vo just come down from the tree up there, sir. You ■can see quite a ways down tho rango now, though the light is dim, and what I take to bo a signal firo leaped up not three miles below us, certainly this side of where Wing was shot." I spok "Stay here and watch," he said. "1 must go and -got those other men in with, the ambulance. Of course if it is Apaches, they've sighted that party and the few men struggling back, and those signals mean, 'close in on them.' I'll send the team right in and then ride and hurry the other fellows out." c-ral When, a quarter of an hour later, the sergeant returned, bringing with him some improvised splints and bandages, and Drummond believed it his duty to make inquiry as to whether he knew Bland and what was the cause of his excitement, Wing turned his grave, troubled face and looked his yoong superior straight in the eye. Hut all the time he talked so airily with the elder sister. Ruth stood watching him with suspicious eyes. It t "So soon? All right; then get back to the post just as quick as you can. I'll rouse the man who has slept longest. All must bo astir in half an hour, but you keep watch there." rl it I would as soon use the cigar stubs of another man as his transportation, and I would rather be a broker for the bedding and gents' furnishing goods from a smallpox hospital than to tempt the poor editor or clergyman by offering him a bid for what he has no right to sell. that The sun was retiring behind the Cababi range as Wing went leaping down the trail. "Man alivet" he at last exclaimed, "why was 1 not told of this? Get me a horse at once, Walsh," he ordered. "I'll take Patterson's. You two remain here and see that that old scoundrel don't get loose—Moreno there—and that no harm befalls the ladies. I'll ride down after Wing." "Mr. Drummond, please do not go," she broke forth. "You have no right to—now.'' And Jaines, the dissembler, found himself trapped. At dinner he said nothing a little, and when it was over a just about to leave the tabl in his mother's lap and said: .1 atevc "Sorry for you, Dick, old boy," he said to his horse. M ho was drowsing in the shade. "More work for us both now." "Go I must, Ilutliie," he said, with sudden change of mariner. "I know you will not blame mo or detain when I tell you, as 1 feel forced to tell you now, that Sergeant Wing is hart. His horse has fallen with him far out on the desert. I'll l)e back very soon." And half an hour later it is that, fieldglass in hand, the young officer is there by Patterson's side, peering eastward almost into tho eye of the sun, searching with anxiety inexpressible for any sign of dust cloud rising along the trail on which they came, for the sight he has seen down the range, now brilliant in the morning light, has filled his heart with tho first real dread it has yet known. In three places, not more than four or five miles apart, down along tho sunlit side of this wild and picturesque mountain chain, signal smokes have been puffing straight up skyward, tho nearest only a couple of miles from this lone picket post, but all on the same side of the valley. Last evening the answer came from across the broad desert. They have come over, therefore, and are hastening up tho chain to join the eager advance hero so close to their hiding place. Beyond a doubt watchful 6pies are already lurking among those heights to the west, striving to get close enough to peer into the rocky fortress and estimate the strength of the garrison. Great they well know it cannot be. for did not their keen eyes count nearly 20 chasing those hated brigands far down toward Sonora pass, and of that num: ber how many have returned? Only three. Did they not Bee the flurry and excitement when that sergeant was shot from ambush? Now, therefore, is the time to strike—now, while the main body is far away. Whatsoever booty thero may be obtainable in that rocky canyon 'tis well worth the attempt. And so from north to south the puff balls of blue white smoke go sailing upward through the pines, and it all means speed t speed I "Mr. Drummond, I have known that man for good and for ill many a long year. If our fellows have killed him, let his crimes die with him. If he is brought in alive—brought to trial—1 may have to speak, but not now, sir. Bear with me, lieutenant—not now." It seems sad to wear out a pocketful of annuals worth at the scalpers $50 to $100 apiece without a chance to ride on them because your clothes are not fit to travel in, but it's better to do that than to be a felon in your own eyes—better to eat snowballs and birdseed than to fatten upon these questionable gains or grow rich by marketing man's weakness and moral curves. "Mamma, I wish that you hail i: Chwist. He was fond of little chi Never stopping to saddle, he leaped upon the bare, brown hack and went clattering down the canyon. "Oh, Mr. Drummond, you must not think of going," exclaimed Miss Harvey. "You're far too seriously hurt, far too weak, to attempt such a thing. Please lie down again. Surely Mr. Wing will do all that any man could do to recover the safe. All the others are in pursuit. They must have overtaken them by this timo. Come; 1 am doctor now that he is away. Obey me and lie still." This little episode diil not 11 so frightfully proud of mysel; glad that the child at least regarded liis mother as a very worthy woman. :e me feel bat I was "Keep yonr eye on Moreno, there I" he shouted up to the lookout. "If he tries to slip away, shoot him." Then with sudden impulsive movement ho lDent, kissed her forehead and turned as suddenly away. Was Drummond dreaming ? He could have declared that tears were starting in the sergeant's eyes as he turned hastily away, unable for the moment to oontinue the setting and bandaging of the broken arm. Ten minutes' brisk gallop through tho windings of the gorge brought him to the edge of the sandy plain. There, under a little clump of willows, was the ambulance, its mules unhitched and hoppled securely, nibbling placidly at such scant herbage as they could find. When tho sisters looked into each other's eyes a moment later, ono face was blushing like tho dawn, tho other was pallid w ith a new and deep anxi etv I am glad to see that the number of Bill Nyes is gradually narrowing down as time goes on, and that with the death of one at Blackwell's island and the incarceration of another near San Jose, Cal., last winter the rank in file are tapering down to the man who Btole a carload of watermelons in Ohio three years ago, one who cashed a draft of mine in Wisconsin and one or two others. HIS LITTLE TRICK "Take yonr own time, Wing," Baid the young officer gently. "Speak or keep silent as you will. You have earned the right." And the sergeant mutely thanked him. Which Included the Selling of a Celebrated Drummond's one available hand found itself clasped by warm, slender fingere. He would have drawn it away and striven to carry out his design, but a glance at his two troopers told him that they plainly and earnestly advocated Miss Harvey's view of the case. He was in no condition to make tho attempt. And at the moment, too, even as he strove to release his hand, another voioe was heard, almost imploring: And now we, too, must follow Wing. He was a total stranger, it is to be remembered, to the regiment when, after its years of battling in tho Army of tho Potomac, it was sent into exile on the far Pacific coiist and Bpeedily lost to sight in tho deserts of Arizona. The type of noncommissioned officer most familiar to the rank and file as well as to their superiors was tho old fashioned "plains raised,'' "disclplin furst and rayson afterward" class of which Feeny was bo prominent an exponent. Brave to rashness and faithful to tho very death, they had reason to look for respect ana appreciation. xney wero men whose only education was that picked up in tho camps and campaigns of tho famous old regiments to which, when mere recruits, they had been assigned. They wero invaluablo in tho army and would have been utterly misjudged and out of thoir element anywhere else. That "book learning" and soldiering could over go hand in hand no man in tho old dragoons would ever have believed for an instant. Such scholars as had drifted into the ranks wero, as a rule, irreclaimable drunkards, lost to any chance of redemption at home, and only tolerated in the service in tho rough old days because of their meek and uncomplaining performance of long hours of extra duty in the troop or regimental offices when, their whisky and their money alike exhausted, they humbly went back to their desks, asking only to live in the hope Com Curi The horses of the two guards, unsaddled, were drooping in the' shado, too tired to hnnt for anything to eat. "I will now," said the street fakir, "show you a little trick which was taught to me by Signor Blitz, the world renowned magician. It is a trick which, although simple in itself, is mystifying in the extreme, and which can always be used to entertain a gathering." The primitive surgery of the frontier took little time, and with his arm comfortably and closely slung Drummond lay impatient for the coming of his men, impatient perhaps to hear a softer voice, to feel again the light touch of slender fingers, yet in his weakness and exhaustion dropping slowly off to sleep. All efforts to keep awake proved vain. His heavy eyelids closed, and presently he was in dreamland. "Saddle up, men. Hitch in and get that team to the head of the canyon, lively now,was his brief order to the sleepy trooper who greeted him, carbine in hand. Referring to this Chicago produot reminds me that at this writing the old war is reopened in Cook county for the abolishment of the Cook County Normal school, an institution of which Chicago should be as proud as Boston is of Bunker Hill. Under the management of Colonel Francis Parker this school has become so great a success that it is known as the pioneer in rational methods of teaching in every land beneath the sun where thought has had a chance to run. Its name and fame have become universal, and yet it may at any moment be wiped off the map of Cupidity county, Ills. The fakir reached down into his satchel and pulled out a square paper parcel which was crisscrossed in all directions by red string. He held it up before the crowd and said: "You see that I have here an ordinary paper parcel, There is "What's up, sergeant?" queried another, springing out from tho willows. "Lee told us to wait here, or wherever we could find shade and water." "Oh, don't let him go, Fan. Don't let him trv to ride!" And turning suddenly at the sound Mr. Drummond found Ruth Harvey standing close behind her sister, her eyes suffused, her cheeks blushing red. It was the first time he had seen her to speak to since they landed at the old wharf at San Francisco a year gone by, and for the moment he forgot tho safe, the funds, the crippled arm, tho bandaged head and every other item that should have occupied his thoughts. "Wait? How long and what for?" nothing of particular value in thisD parcel. You will notice also that it is securely tied and retied with string. Now, the trick which I am abont to show you consists of removing from that string that package without untying the string and without cutting it." Meantime Sergeant Wing had busied himself in many a way. First he had gone to loosen old Moreno's bonds— enough, at least, to relieve his pain, yet hold him securely, The soldier Bitting drowsily on the rock beside the prisoner gladly accepted permission to put aside his carbine and go to Bleep. " Blessed if I know how long. None of 'em ain't in sight from hero coming back, but 'what for' is easy to answer. The paymaster's chest." For the moment, therefore, he eoald do nothing moro but look for succor. A glance down the desert told him his fellows were at last rudely awakened. True to the practice of the craft, the instant fire was opened from the rocks each man had put spurs to his horse and dashed away to a safer distance with such speed as was possible with their jaded mounts, each trooper warily scanning tho dark line of the foot hills in searcn or tno roe ana striving as no rode to unfasten tho flap that held his carbine, in the fashion of the day, athwart tho pommel of his saddle, and now, circling farther out upon the plain, in wide sweep, with carbines advanced, they were hastening to the succor of their comrade. Presently one of their number suddenly drew rein, halted his startled "broncho," aimed to the left of the horse's head and fired, then, cramming a cartridge into the chamlier, camo riding farther. The others, too, followed suit, shooting at some object apparently among the rocks in front of the sergeant's position. One of the men threw himself from his Baddie, and kneeling on the sands drove two or three shots at long range. Eager to add his own fire to theirs. Wing pulled his hatbriin over his eyes, threw for- "The paymaster's chest?" cried Wing. "Why, isn't that here in the ambulance?" He handed the package to a man standing In front of him, and it was carefully examined by everybody. While it was being passed from hand to hand the fa kir took out a number of bottles of ; pale red liquid and held them up in 1 p glare of the electric light. "As I v "Not a hinge of it. Those greasers swapped it onto an apparejo while we were all running for Harvey's daughters. The money's half way to Sonora by this time." Somewhere along toward 4 o'clock, when it was again Patterson's watch, and Drummond arose from his blanket after a refreshing Bleep of nearly two hours and he and his faithful sentry were standing just outside the mouth of the cave, they distinctly heard the same mean of distress. This is because the land, when promoted from a pig pasture, was given to be used for the purposes of a normal school, so when it shall be no longer so used it will revert to the original owners or their heirs, who are possibly now in need of funds. "I'll watch him, Mat," said Wing. "Yon lie down there, Moreno, and see to it that you make no effort to slip a knot while I'm at work here. How far away is that ambulance now, PatD tenon?" he called to the man on lookout."Why, Ruthie, is this you? How you have grown!" And then the imprisoned hand was released only to be transferred to the clasp and keeping of another. In her fear that her knight, her soldier, would leave them, and wounded though ho was insist on attempting to follow his men in their pursuit, the shyness of maidenhood was forgotten. Ruth had seized and clasped the long, brown fingers, and Drurnmond forgot for the moment all thought of quitting her presence for the field. CHAPTER IX. Peaceful as was his rest, Drnmmond slept only an hour or so. For months he had lived in the open air, "on the warpath," said his captain, a veteran who , had won his spurs twice over in tho war of the rebellion and declared himself quite ready to take his ease nuw and let the youngsters see for themselves the hollowness of military glory. Weariness and physical exhaustion had lent their claims, and despite bruises and many a pang, despite the realization of the presence of the fair girls whom his dash and energy had rescued from robber hands, the young fellow had dozeij away into dreamland. Why not ? Tho object of his mission was accomplished. Fanny and Ruth Harvey were safe. All that was left for the party to do now was rest inquiet until another inorn, then it would be quite possible to start on the return without waiting for the coming of their friends. Before sunset his men would be reassembled. They could have a long night a sleep, and with the rising of the morrow 'a sun, convoying their three wagons and their captured treasures, the little detachment would take the back track for the Tucson road, confident of meeting "old Harvey" and probably a doctor on the. way. Ho himself, though most in need Of surgical attention when they reached the cares, had such confidence in the skill of Sergeant Wing as to feel that his arm was Bet as perfectly as could be done by almost any other practitioner, and before dropping off to sleep had quite determined that ho would make the morning march in saddle. At 7 o'clock the little command has had coffee and a hearty breakfast. No lack of provender here in this hitherto undiscovered robbers' roost. Drummond, cool, confident, has had his men about him where none others could see or hear, has assigned them the stations which they are to take the instant of alarm and has given them their instructions. Walsh it is who is now on lookout, and he is peering away down southward so intently that some comrade is prompted to call up to him in a low tone: saying, gentlemen," he went on "Halted down at the edge of the plain, sergeant. That's where they struck water first, and I reckon they couldn't make up their minds to come farther. I can make out one or two of the fellows coming back far down the desert to the south. Horses played out probably." Therefore it is a question only of whether the proper officials can or cannot be bought over to the wrong. The trick consists in removing the pn from the infolding embrace of the i " Is there nothing we can do to ease the sergeant, sir?" whispered Patterson. " This makes the second time I have heard him groaning, and it's so unlike him." without untying the string or cnttii However, before I go any further I v iULJ to call your attention to this very s rior article which I am now introducing in Hmited quantities. It is the only preparation on the market which will positively and absolutely eradicate cornq and bunions, and I am offering it here tonight for the small sum of 2-5 cents a bottle. Who takes the first bC •' i!« *'" "We have no opiates, and I doubt if he would use ono if we had. He declares there is no intense pain." "Anything to be seen across the valley along the trail we came?" And then having—as she supposed— won her point, and having caught the new light in his admiring eyes, it became necessary to struggle for the release of the hand sho had so unhesitatingly used to detain him. This might have proved a difficult matter, judging from the expression in Drummond's face, but for a sudden hail from Patterson : "Well, first off, sir, I thought ho was dreaming, but he was wide awake, and Miss Harvey came in only a moment after I got to him. Could those devils poison a bullet as they do their arrows, and could that make him go into fever so soon?" "Nothing, sir; not a puff of dust. But here's something I don't understand—off here in the range south of us ■—well up toward the top." The fakir went on an suasively about his corn cur "See anything?" half a: To which, without removing the glass from under hia hat brim, the Irish trooper merely shakes his head. "Any moro smokes?" "Sorra a smoke have I Been at all." "Well, then, what in blazes are yon staring at?" hour. He disposed of a few 1 "What's that?" asked Wing, dropping the coil of lariat he held in his hand and looking quickly up. was about to close his satchel "I hardly think bo, but why did you say dreaming?" new corner when a frowsy "Well, it's more like signal smoke than anything else. Just exactly such smoke as we have seen in the Chiricahua and Catarinas and— Well, just come up here with your fieldglass, if you can, sergeant. I believe there's an answer to it way down to the southeast —t'other side of the vallev." in the crowd said, "See her ain't done that there trick ster. "Can the lieutenant come up here a moment? There's something going on down there I can't understand." "Because once it was 'mother' ho called, and again—just now—I thought ho said ' mother.''' "Why, to be sure I haven the fakir. He pulled out the j uiu Moreno, wnoso bonds could not restrain his shifting, glittering eyes, glanced quickly upward. Then, as ho caught a menacing look in the sunburned face of tho Irish trooper WalHh, he lDecamo as suddenly oblivions to all earthly matters lieyond tho palo of his own physical woes. And now it was Ruth's hand that would retain its clasp and Drummond's that was again struggling for release. In a moment tho lieutenant stood under Patterson's perch. The lieutenant turned, looking straight at his soldierly subordinate. "How can I tell ye till Ifind out?" is the Hibernian reply, and this is enough to send the corporal on a climb. Drummond at tho moment is again kneeling by Wing, who has but just awakened from a fithil sleep, Miss Harvey being the Brut to hear him stir and sigh. Ruth and her sister, too, seem about to withdraw, but Wing, whose voice is woiik now, liegs them to remain. age again. "I believe I said remove the string wirhout t knot or cutting it. I am prepare to do so. I will not cut the string; neithe r will I untie it. But," and he hoo}C "By Jovo, Patterson, so did II" There was a littlo stir across the canyon. Moreno was edging about uneasily and beginning to mutter blasphemy at his bonds. two fit In an instant Wing turned. "Sorry for you.Senor Moreno," he grimly muttered. "But as only two men are with me, and both are otherwise engaged, I'll have to secure you temporarily. It isn't pleasant, bnt it serves you right.": gera under the string and gave a sudden tug, breaking it, "I said nothing about breaking the string, vrhich I have done "That fellow begged very hard to be moved down into that wolf hole of a place where tho Mexican women are, lieutenant, with those two bunged up bandits to take care of. Nice time we'd have, sir, if tho three of them was able to move. The boys'd make short worn or them now, tho way they 're feeling. I went in and took a look at those two follows. One of 'em is a goner, suro, but they're dead game, both of 'em. Neither one has a word to say." and which releases the pacl He bent und kissed her forehead. of another drunk. Hundreds of the old dragoons could barely sign their names, many could only touch tho pen when called upon to make "his (X) mark." "Another busted clerk" was tho general expression when tho young Califoruian came forward to enlist. Yet ho was the picture of clear eyed, athletic manhood, was accepted with much hesitancy by tho officers and undoubted suspicion by the men, yet speedily proved a splendid horseman, scout, shot and, as was the final admission, "all round trooper," despite tho fact that ho was well educated and spoke Spanish like a native. Still, such was tho prevailing faith, as it over is among veteran soldiers, that tho old style was tho best, it was long before he won promotion. No one who has not known both can begin to imagine tho difference between tho army of a quarter century ago and tho army of today. Just as Feeny was a resolute specimen of the old, so was Wing a pioneer of his class in the new. At tho moment when the latter struck spurs to the wearied flanks of poor Dick and called on him for one moro effort, the stalwart and handsome sergeant sped away on tho path of duty, confident of tho fact that by this time every man in his own troop and every soldier who knew him at all would stake his last dollar on Bob Wing's tackling tho problem before him as fearlessly and intelligently as any veteran in the regiment. men, allow rue to wish you a vC rv re. ( "Has anything been seen yet—back on tho trail—of the Stoneman party?" he nsks. CLOTHES NOT FIT TO TRAVEL IN. day, first thanking you f. In vain the Mexican pleaded and protested. A rawh'ide riata was wound and looped about him in a few scientific turns, and he was left reclining against the rock, conquered yet inwardly raging, while Wing stole in to Drummond's rude couch, slipped the fieldglass from its case, then, with a long ing look into the darker depths beyond, and a moment's hesitation, he stepped to the projecting rock that seemed to divide the cave into two apartments and called in lower tone. "Miss Har vey." •5^ friends of the best, wisest and most successful educational methods, of which Colonel Parker has for years been the acknowledged leader, may well meet and establish at the corner "of Sixty-fifth street a good handy wailing place and weeping trough if the sandbaggers are thus allowed to enter the schoolroom and smite the children to the earth. generous patronage." Wing threw forward the barrel over the now stilled carca*8 of poor Dick. ward the barrel over tho now stilled carcass of poor Dick, and peered eagerly up the ravine in search of some foe at whom to aim. Blindly he searched for dusky Apache skulking from rock to rock. There was no moving thing in sight. But what was this—this object that suddenly shot out from behind a little ledge, and turning sharply to the left went clattering into the depths of a dark and frowning gorge? Could ho believe his eyes? Did the Chirioahuas, then, have horses and wear trooper hats? Bending low over his steed and spurring him to the uttermost exertion, a tall, even soldierly, form had darted one instant into view and then gone thnndering out of sight. Up to this moment Wing never had lost full control of his faculties. Now his brain reeled. Before his eyes rose a dense cloud of mist rushing forth from the mountain side. Bowlders, near at hand, took to waltzing solemnly wiih their neighbors, and when at last tne foremost trooper flung himself from his horse and crept to the sergeant's side, while his comrades rode on, keeping vigilant watch against the appearance of other foes. Sergeant WinR was louiiu uetuut) mo uut&u uuitxs uc had Bwoonod utterly away. "Bygum!" said the frouzybair "Anybody could do them there tr "What did you see? What was it like ? How far away ?" "No, sergeant," replies Drummond, "but renumber that we can only see some six miles of the trail, after that it is lost in that tortuous ravine down —„0 mi tVio r.hnsn Walsh is up there on lookout, and I'll ask if he can see anything now," and calling to one of tho men Drummond bids him inquire. All eagerly await the reply. At last it comes: they knowed how.' '—Buffalo Espresi "Six or seven miles, sir. Tho valley rs broad find open, and three of our fellows were riding slowly back on the west side, while Wing was galloping as though to meet them, and when they weren't more than a mile apart Wing's horse went down—looks no bigger than a black speck—-and tho other three sheered off away from the rocks on this side and seemed to be scattering apart.'' It Made No Difference Kate Field tells a story of a woman who were horribly seasick t ing the channel. The stewardess f them sitting together on the deck, thi woman leaning back with closed ey and the man's head resting on her sho der. "Your husband seems to f I. . worse than you do," said the stew ird sympathetically. The sick woman ed her eyes and glanced at her 1' sufferer with a sort of despairin ference. Then she gasped ns s her eyes wearily again: "EC husband. I'm sure I don't 1 is."- Argonaut, mail and Still, ho could not sleep for any great length of time. The instinct of vigilance and the sense of responsibility would not leave him. In his half dreaming, half waking state, he once thought he heard a light footfull, and presently as he dozed with eyelids shut there came a soft touch upon his temple. Lifting his hand he seized that of his visitor—Fanny Harvey. "No," answered Drummond, "they refused to give their names tome—said it was no earthly consequence what name wo put over their graves; the right set of fellows would be along after awhile and do them all the honor they cared for. How wero tho Moreno women behaving?" A pleasant little gathering took place the other day at the honse of an admirer of mine who wished me to come and make his house my home while in the city. In an unguarded moment I agreed to do so, and in the afternoon a reception was tendered me by my host, at which some of the best neoole from the roundhouse who could get away and the bridge foreman and his wife were present. "No dufit on tho back track, sir, but something that looks like it far to tho south. We think it may bo somo of our follows coming back, but it is too faint and far to make it out yet." "Here, Mr. Wing. What is wanted ?" And at the inaj«**t, prompt, alert, even smiling, Fanny Harvey appeared before him. The pallor was gone. The disheveled hair hod been twisted into chape. Food, rest, relief from dread and misery and that little appreciated beautifier, fresh water, had wrought their transformation here. Wing's handsome eyes glistened as he removed his hat. Tlw words worn low spoken so as to reach only his car. Now it was no easy scramble for a man in Drnmmond's condition to make, but it took him only a little time to clamber to Patterson's side. "Tho girl was asleep, I should judge, sir. The old hag was rocking to and fro, crooning to herself until ono of the two—tho live ono, I should call him—hurled a curso at her in Spanish and told her to dry up or he'd kill her. All a bluff, for ho can't move a peg." The corporal is the speaker, his resonant voice contrasting strongly with the foeble accents of his immediate superior, the wounded sergeant. "Why are you not rpsting ?" he asked. 'And where is Ruth?" The pastor came also, and my friend thought it would be a good time while all the friends were there and the pastoi also to baptize a nice new child of his He asked me if I would mind the recep tion takinsr that turn, and 1 said no tadeedy. I had often wished that something could be done to make receptions more popular, and I thought he had helped to solve the problem. So the child was brought forward. It looked as though a regular course of baptism would doit good, and I was glad to know that It was going to get moistened up a little in the face and brow. w who L "Ruth is sleeping, as wo hoped you might be 'Tired nature's sweet restorer' is all you n»*d, Mr. Druinmond, vet vou do not seem to have had more than a cat nap. Twice 1 have stolen in here to see you, and then, though I was fearful of waking you, you slept peacefully through it all." "There's something bark of all this, and you know it, Patterson. What Apache sign have you seen?" [to be continued.] An Unfulfilled Prediction. Impossible. "Didn't you tell me yon c the plow?" said a farmer to an he had taken on trial. hold "I have to go up to that point yonder a few minutes, leaving old Moreno alonn, bound, to be sure, but his wife or daughter might slip out and release him. Will you have the goodness to take this and shoot him if they should make the attempt?" And he handed her his pistol. "Smoke, sir, on Ixjtli sides. But we agreed, the sergeant and I, that the young ladies mustn't l)o alarmed nor you aroused. Then ho rodo away to hurry in any of our fellows who were in sight and warn them to keep out from the rocks. What I'm afraid of is that they've lDeen ambushed, or at least that. tho Indians have ambushed him. His horse is down, and those others you see are away out (m the plain now. They're working around toward the horn; as though he were lying behind it, and they appear to lxj firing mounted.""Watch them well, Patterson, all the same. Hush!" "Be aisy, now," said Mike. "How could I liould it an two borses pr.llin it away? Jnst stop the craytun hould it for ye."—Brooklyn Lif Again from within tho deep shelter of the rocky cave came the low moan of anguish t 11 I'll "Well, I must have slept a couple of hours anyway, and I slept soundly until within the last few minutes. Has none of the men got back yet. Miss Harvey ? Do you know what time it is? I suppose Wing is sleeping." "Here, Patterson, I can't stand this. I'm going in to him." And picking up the dim lantern which he had taken from the Harvey wagon Drummond stole in on tiptoe and knelt again boside his wounded comrade. "Mother! mother! if you knew"—— Not Loaded Mistress (arranging for the dinner Didn't the grocer send the macaroni v "I'll see to it that no ana interferes with him, Mr. Wing. What has happened? Are the others coming?" And she took the revolver, balancing it In her accustomed and practiced hand. The admiration deepened in Wing's gaze. Codk—Yes, mum, but Oi sent it I Every wan of them stirns was empi Vogue. But I was saddened when after the song service which the child introduced, during which it gathered and ate one lobe of the pastor's whiskers, I was called on by the host to make a few remarks. "Mr. Wing ought to be sleeping, but he isn't. The sentry—Patterson I think they call him—summoned him up to the lookout there in the rocks, oh, about an hour ago, and when the sergeant came back he mounted his horse and rodo away down the canyon. Ho said there was something requiring his attention. But you are to drink this chocolate and lie still." Having ordered the ambulance up the gorge, he himself spurred away to gather in all stragglers within reach, so as to re-enforce the little garrison at the caves in the event of attack from the Apaches. To his practiced eye no vestige of doubt remained as to the character and purpose of tho signal smokes. Not a moment was to lDe lost. Within that very hour perhaps unseen Indians would come skulking, spying, "snaking" ujDon their refuge, would be able infallibly to determine tho number and character of its occupants, and if their own force were considerable and that of the garrison weak God alono could help those innocent women. By and by, with anxious face and bandaged head and arm, Lieutenant Drummond came galloping down. Wing was then submitting to the rude bandaging of his leg and lying limp and weak, his head resting on Dick's stiffening shoulder. But Wing's eyes were covered by his hand and ho never looked up at his young commander, though he heard his anxious "Wing! sergeant! Look up, mnn. Speak to mo. You must bo in distress, mental or bodily. Do let mo help you in some way." Miss Withers—When I was born, my grandmother predicted that I would never live to be old. A Heavyweight- "I see you handle a pistol as though you had used one. You're a true frontiersman's dnnsrhter I'll have tin away tor a tew minutes. i m going np to look from our rock above there. Some of our men, they say, ore In sight •lowly returning, and the paymaster's ambulance is only a mile away, probably waiting for the rest of the party. How is Miss Ruth?" What was Druinmond to do? To leave liis charges here, unprotected, was out of tho question. Fail to go or send to Wing's relief ho could not. Decide ho must and decide quickly. I had never spoken impromptu at a baptism, except in North Carolina, when a colored man who cooks for ine wat about to be drowned, when I told the pastor if ho tost that cook of mine 1 would garnishee his pay till the claim was settled. Billington (wishing to be pleasant)— Ha, ha, ha! Ho, ho, ho! What a good joko you must have on your grandmother!—Puck,For a moment no reply whatever. Wing's faoe was hidden. Then ho looked gently upward. "Patterson, that party of Apaches can't be over a dozen strong, or they would have rushed out of their cover by this time, yet they are too Htrong and too securely posted to lxD driven by that little squad, especially if Wing is Wounded. I can't shoot now, but I can ride and direct. Every man who can shoot may lDe needed here. You have four now and can stand off 40 Apaches—Tonto or Chiricabua— in such a position as this, so I leave yon in charge. You have everything to help you stand a siege. Now see to it that the ladies are kept well under "Lieutenant, I'm ashamed to be giving you so much troublo. Pleaso go and lie down again, sir; you're worse hurt than I am—only I suppose I get to dozing off and then turn on that side." "No, it isn't that, sergeant. There's something wrong, and it has all come on you since yesterday morning. Where !s your mother?" Drummond slowly strove to rise. He was too anxious, too nervous, to remain where he was. The Poor Mnn. I do not remember now what I said on this latter occasion, but I know that what I did say was concealed by the remarKs or tho clnui, wno tnrew ms reet into the air and showed more original sin than any child I ever saw baptized. queries, Mamma (to professor, whoso ears hare been lacerated for an hour)—Don't yo-i think the dear child should have her voire cultivated? "Is ho much hurt? Were there many of them?" "Sleeping like a baby, bless her heart." "And none of them has returned yet?" he asked. "I cannot understand that. No, please do not strive to detain me here. I'm perfectly able to be up and about, and if Wing is gone it's my business to look after things." The Professor (grimly)—Yes, if she moat ■ins.—Kate Field's Washington. frrn'"' "Shot through tho log here, sir," answered the sturdy corporal, " and was iu a dead faint when wo got to him. I don't kn#)w how many there was of them, lieutenant) they skipped off the moment wo opened flro." "Well, I have promised Mr. Drummond that she should be his nurse. 1 hope you will consent. He is sleeping too. No fever yet, I am thankful to say." Then a long, embarrassing lull struck the company. No one could think of anything to say. In the absence of a baptismal font ti e mother had utilized a large silver plated butter dish, and while every one was scarcely breathing and the silence was painful a little white headed child with rreat solemn eyes said Star Boarder—How is Mr morning, Mrs. Skinner? When last noted, tho westward signal was puffing slowly up into tho cloudless sky from a point in the rango perhaps six miles below Patterson's station in the rocks. The three wearied troopers, dragging slowly back from the chase, could be seen coming up the valley prob- A Long Run. Again Wing turned away, buiying his face in his arms. "Did you have a long run with your play?" Mrs. Skinner—I took him up a cup of tea and apiece of bread, and be was just able to raise the bread to bis li)Ds. Over among the rocks across the narrow canyon the first object to meet his gaze as he aroso was Moreno, reclining there Ixjund and helpless, while at hand a soldier had thrown himself on "They couldn't have seen us coming, lieutenant," eagerly spoko a young recruit. "They must have thought the serireant was alone, for when we charged "'I should say so," replied the author actor. "A mile and a half, with an infuriated audience on our heels every step of the way."—Washington Star. "Rnth will be ready, and so will 1. to help in any way we can. But when •re you to have a rest, may 1 ask ?" "Listen, sergeant; wo hope to get you out of this by tonight. Dr. Gray ought surely to reach us by that time, and while we may have to keep up a Star Boarder (pleased at n he'll pull through all right ; h •trengtb enough to do that k-PuC s Oh, had