Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 87, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 April 1919 — Hands Up! [ARTICLE]

Hands Up!

By RALPH BEACH WALL

(Copyright.) There was wild, unsubdued fire in her eyes. By the way she threw back her head and shouted to her mount, a sleek cayuse, one could tell “at a glance that she was a girl of spirit, who did Bess was not accustomed to riding alone through the gorge trail, covered only by a stage from Silverhead, a neighboring mining town. Usually Phil rode wtih her. '/ ? ; 1 \ It was half in anger toward him that she had chosen the lonesome, some said dangerous, route. She had seen Phil two hours before, and, aS usual, had shouted an invitation for him to ride with her. y"Can’t! I’m busy today. See you later,” he answered, waving his hat to her and galloping on. There was something in his eyes that bothered the girl, when she remembered it. It was for that reason, half an hour later. Bess had chosen the lonely gorge road. She wanted to be. alone, to think about Phil, and weigh her father’s doubts about the young fellow, who seemed to do nothing save idle his time away, and who hacf never been caught working since he had struck town two months before. Why did he occasionally go off on his horse alone, and not come back till the next day? Who were the city men he often met at the daily train, and sometimes went on with for a day or two? He had never explained his business to Bess. -t" ——

The night before he had asked her to marry him. The thought had come to her so suddenly that all she could do was ask for time. “I-will answer you tomorrow evening,” she had said. She could not understand his urgency, the eagerness in his voice. “But I have many things to think of,” she protested. "You know how father Is opposed to you. It’s partly because you look city-bred,, and still know horses and mining so well. He seems to be almost suspicious of you.” “I can easily clear up any suspicion,” he had answered confidently. “But T' want my answer now.- ~ Tomorrow may be too late.” Why had he repeated that ominous warning? Had he planned anything for today? Was he in danger of any kind?At that moment the rumble of wheels behind her caused Bess to turn. She had already reached a lonely spot in the gorge, some miles from town. It was the stage from Sil verhead, carrying its cargo of silver and passengers, winding through the gully, cut sharply between high cliffs. The four horses were straining at their load, and coming along at a smart clip. Bess whipped up her horse to gain a wider part of the road, where the coach could pass her. The passage was uneven and full of rocks. Riding being difficult, the girl bent all her attention on the steed. At a sharp turn In the road something scared the skittish cayuse. A second later the animal shied at a big bowlder- confronting them, and Bess was hurled through the air, over his head, landing in a jut in the wall. Her revolver flew from her belt with the jolt, and the frightened cayuse galloped on alone. When the girl pulled herself together she found that the horse had thrown her into an opening, a little pocket in the natural stone wall at the turning which commanded a view of the road on both sides of the sharp corner. She glanced out, and found the stage drawing near at a rapid rate; then, looking in the opposite direction, Bess saw her cayuse galloping madly, already half a mile away. The revolver that had jolted loose was the next thing to attract her attention, and she was about to slide

down and recover it from the ledge, two feet below, whed a quick move- ' ment attracted her in the direction her horse had taken. The girl’s eyes dilated and she seemed frozen to the spot, as she watched three masked horsemen near- 1 ing the gully road through a narrow defile down one side. In a moment Bess realized- The stage was thundering on. She slipped forward to get the gun. The stage was not .a hundred yards off. Bess glanced apprehensively at the three grim horsemen, partly concealed behind a bowlder at the roadside. The hand reaching for the revolver drew back sharply. She caught in her breath with a convulsive gasp. Bess had recognized in that instant the leader of the bandits. It was Phil. Around his neck was the very(handkerchief she bad spent, weeks embroidering for him, every stitch an expression of love and faith. Then her eyes glinted like blue steel. Her teeth snapped together, and she made a quick grasp for the revolver. With It secure in her hand, she hesitated but a moment; then, her cheeks white and lips drawn, she steadily Aimed the revolver at her unsuspect-

ing lover, who, with his men, awaited the stage. . There was the love of a savage and the hate of a savage in her expression. She had found out her lover lit last, and bad Instinctively pointed the gun at him. Bess’ left hand clenched so that the tendons showed white through the skin, and the forefinger of her right hand twitched on the trigger. Before she realized the trembling finger gave a jerk and pulled the trigger. There came a slight click, but nothing more. The hammer had become jammed by the jolting received when it fell from her belL- -; Glancing up, her wits scattered by this sudden discovery, she''saw the stage rolling past the gap. / It was too late. The gun had failed, and the stage had passed before she "could give the warning. “Hands tip —r * ' ’-.J.' The gruff growl made Bess grow faint, and her eyes swam. For in it she recognized the same tone that she knew so well in Phil’s voice, but it was so brutal, so different. She watched, with a stifling throat and heaving bosom, as a shot rang out from Phil’s gun and the driver, who had not obeyed the summons quickly enough, tumbled from his seat and flopped onto his back in the road. Bess sprang to her feet, aflare with madness. Her wits worked rapidly; she must do something to cope with his brutality. The bandits stopped the dashing horses, and in a moment a trembling party of travelers filed the stage. They lined up In a row, their hands high above their heads. Bess gave a strangled gasp, a sudden impulse seized her, and she leaped to the road, her revolver clubbed,and clutched tensely.

With blind fury she flew to the holdup scene, her nostrils dilated, her eyes red-rimmed. The leader evidently saw her coming. He darted forward, and a minute later Bess found herself struggling and fighting in his strong arms. He knocked the revolver from her hand and tried to explain something In eager words. But she would not listen. She screamed with rage and tore at him; his very tosch was the blight.’ His hands seared her wherever they rested. In the meantime his companions continued their work and paid no attention to him. With a wild gleam in his eyes, Phil suddenly forced her back and held her tightly explaining to her, trying to get the girl to listen to his defense. Through sheer weakness Bess finally had to listen. Then the words had their effect. Her eyes gleamed, she looked at him squarely and became more quiet. “Wait here!” he cried suddenly. “I’ll go back and get the stuff. Wait here for me.” As he dashed off Bess sank to the ground, utterly spent, and she lay sobbing weakly, while her lover rushed back to the frightened group of travelers, swooped up the valuables, tied them in a wide handkerchief, mounted his horse, fired several shots in the air, and swung down the trail to where Bess sat In a heap, wondering trying to reassure herself that all he had said was true. . j Half a mile from the holdup scene he drew rein abruptly and turned' to Bess with a reassuring smile. “I had to go this far,” he explained. “They need a slide in the picture of the bandits getting away, and I guess mine was some picturesque getaway. “Your butting in helped the picture a good deal, Bess. They’ll change the Idea and label this part: ‘Wife Pleading With Bandit Chief.’” “Phil,” she said, looking up with yearning eyes, in which the slightest suggestion of a smile was beginning to glow, “Is It really true? I know it must be. But the thing seemed so real at the time. I never saw a moving picture taken before.” “Well, it won’t be the last one you’ll see taken, I hope,” the man smiled, wiping her tear-stained face with the handkerchief she had made for him.

“Tljat’s my business. The people in the stage-coach and my confederates are all actors; the man who did the stage-fall from the driver’s seat is my brother. We’re in partnership in the business.” “But why didn’t you explain all this before?” queried the girl, the smile succeeding in erasing ’ some of the tragic tensity of her features. “Well,, people are curious about moving pictures; they want to butt In and see them taken. That spoils the whole thing, and I didn’t want to %e bothered.” “Haven’t I bothered you, Phil, Just a little?" she asked, the smile asserj< ing itself boldly for the first time. “You’ve bothered me more than anything has for a long time,” he cried, reaching toward her eagerly-, “Well,” she said, having recovered her natural spirit entirely. “I guess I’ll fix It up with you and a Justice of the peace, so I can have the exclusive privilege of bothering you all the rest of your life.” “So you’ve made up your mind at last,” he cried, inclosing her in a tender embrace. She threw off his arms playfully and spurred the horse into action; they galloped back to the moving-pic-ture party and announced their engagement. Then Bess -told of how she had almost tried to kill the bandit chief, assuring them, however, that even if the hammer hadn’t been Jammed, she couldn’t hate hit him with such a trembly hand.