Storyteller.

Southern Cross, Volume 1, Issue 34, 18 November 1893, Page 13

Storyteller.

SACRAMENTO.

Tt was an odd name for a girl— SacTamento. So the girl herself thought as she stooped down beside a spring at the foot of a cotonwood tree and lazily dropped her pail into the water. *• It ought to have been given to a boy. if it was a lit name to give anybody',” she said quite aloud. “ But I’m more boy than girl, ™}' wa y^ This fact was added rather bitterly, she looked at her brown, rough bands and her bare ankle, and thought ©f the ‘boy’s work” she had to do. And it was hard to believe that this was the best kind of a life for a young »i r l like Sacramento. Here she lived alone, for her father was down at the mouth of the canyon all day. The garden work she was obliged to do, and the care of the cattle fell upon her. It was not often that she saw any person hut her father, although now and then, in spite of herself, she came in contact with the rude men of the mining camp up above. Yet Sacramento had her dream, one that she “ scarcely dared to own,” but it came to her often as she went about her work. , -r. She knew that down at Santa Barbara and in the towns along the coast, and far, far away across wide stretches of continent to the great East, there were girls who lived very different from her life, and she dreamed of such a life for herself. “ Oh, if 1 could only go away from here!” she cried out, almost as one cries out for help. 0 “ If I could only go down to San Erancisco and go to school there for a single year. Ah. if I had froOO. Sudden ly there was a step, not a man but of a horse—on the bank behind her. and then someone spoke. She knew the voice without looking np It was Pete Larrabee, a fellow who lived down on Habneman’s plantation two miles along the trail. sometimes rode by. He had not heard her last words at all ; yet, strangely enough, his own were a repetition of them. 0 ~ “ Eive hundred dollars, bac, said. be : “0500 in gold ! D’yer want ter earn it F Ther’s yer chance, and he threw down to her a bit of paper crumpled into a ball. She picked it up, and, slowly unfolding it, ran her eyes over its contents.

§SOO REWARD. The above amount will be paid for information leading to the arrest, dead or alive, of Walter Somers, who worked for some time past on Maxwell’s ranch. Said Somers is about 18 years old and five and a half feet high, rather good looking, with light, curly hair, blue eyes, and a light mustache. When last seen he had on a black slouch hat, gray business suit, and blue flannel shirt and boots with red tops marked with the maker’s name. The name of the county sheriff was signed at the bottom of the hill. Sacramento, having glanced it through, looked up. “He’s been stealin’ horses! exclaimed Pete. “ Got off last night with four of Maxwell s best, somewhares. That reward won’t do much good, though. The regulators’ll lasso him and string him up long ’fore the law’ll git started. They re havin’ a meetin’ now up at the gulch. I tell ye they are mad. They 11 make quick work of him if they ketch him. Yer father’s there. Ye needn’t look for him home afore night, much.” Then, after a word or two more, the man le on. It was some hours after this, and the afternoon sun was going down behind the mountains, that Sacramento, having finished her housework, was preparing to sit down on the porch to do her sewing, when she was met in the door by a man she had never seen before. And yet he was no stranger. The girl knew him instantly, although the slouch hat was pulled over the flaxen

hair and blue eyes, and the gray pants torn and muddy, haq been drawn out of the boot legs so as to no longer allow the red tops of the boots with the maker’s name to he seen It was the horse thief.

Instinctively he moved hand toward his hat, and then, bethinking himself, dropped it again.

“ Could you give me something to eat and drink F” .he asked, in a hesitating voice. “ Anything wall do, lam very hungry. I —l have had nothing to eat since last night.” “ Contain, ’said Sacramento gravely. In her voice there was neither kindness nor unkindness, she was trying to realize the situation she was in. “ Come in and sit down.” Then she went to a closet near by', and began taking down milk and bread and meat, as she slowly did so turning the matter over in her mind. Here was the same man who had been stealing horses, and for whose capture 0500 were offered, in her own kitchen. Eive hundred dollars ! Exactly the sum she had been washing for —the sum that would take her dow r n to San Francisco to school and make a lady of her. And this sum might be hers if she could in some way secure this stranger or keep him in the house until help arrived. Help F Why she hardly needed help. He was weak and exhausted, and in the drawer of the kitphen table there was a loaded revolver, which she well knew how to use.

She came out presently and set the things before him, bringing also the teapot from the stove and pouring for him a cup of tea. Then she went and sat down by the window, and watched him furtively as he ate. Her heart yearned with true womanly sympathy, and her feeling found expression before she was able to restrain herself.

“ Oh, how could you do it ? How could you do it ?” she suddenly exclaimed, her voice quite full of what she felt.

He looked up at her in wonder ; hut as his eyes met hers he understood her.

“ I didn’t do it. Upon my honour I did not,” he said. “It was that man Dennis.” Sacramento breathed a great sigh of relief. Horse-stealing was held in that section to be a crime worse than murder; and she was by no means free from the popular estimate of its grave nature. “ Oh, I am glad of that F” cried she. “ But —” she hestitated, and then went on doubtfully, “ But, then, how was it ? Why did you run away?” “ It was Dennis’ doings, their laying it to me. He did that to clear himself. And after that you know as well as I do that there would have been no use in trying to prove myself innocent. They always hang a horse thief first and then consider his guilt afterwards. I had to run to save my life.”

“ Do you know that there is a reward offered for your capture ?” “ I know that the regulators are after me,” answered the young man sullenly. “ They came pretty near catching me, too, this noon. I just escaped" them, and came down the mountain trail. I have had a hard run for it, and what with no sleep for twenty-four horn’s, I am about used up. I felt as though I could not go another step when I saw your house. How- —you have been very good to me. I shall never forget—” “ But what are you going to do now ?” interrupted Sacramento. “You are not safe here.” “ I know it. But I threw them off the track this noon, and I do not think they are within five miles of me. How, I have had something to eat, I will take to the woods again. I hope I may get clear away. If I don’t ” —his voice trembled and tears came into his eyes “If I don’t I shall get a hanging, I suppose. Oh, what a fool I was to prefer home to this sort of thing ! And, yet, I would not care so much, either, if it wasn’t for my father and mother.” And there the poor fellow fairly broke down.

“ Hark ! ” Sacramento exclaimed. She had been crying, too. She could not help it. They both listened. In a moment they both heard plainly the sound of horses coming down the trail. The girl turned with instant self-posses-sion :

“Go in there ! Quick ! Quick ! There is not a moment to lose. Here take your hat 1”

After handing his hat to him she half pushed him across the room and into her own little room that led off from it. Then she hurriedly cleared the table again, barely finishing the task as the horsemen halted at the door.

There were three of them. One was her father. Sacramento knew the other two men by sight. They were rough, but of the better sort of those who made up the dwellers of Kelly Gulch. The faces of all three were stern and forbidding, and they evidently had been riding hard. They dismounted together. “ Sac,” began her father, as he entered the door, “ hev you seen anything of a young chap afoot or a horseback coming this way P” Sacramento had expected the question and -was ready for it. And she meant, if possible, to answer without telling a lie. “ A young chap about 18 years of age, and five feet and a-half high, rather good looking, and with red top-boots P” replied she. “Yes! yes! That’s him!” cried one of the men. “ Has he been here ?” “ I was only quoting from this handbill,” said Sacramento, takingjthe paper from the shelf where she had laid it. “ Then you hadn’t seen him at all ?” asked her father. “ I have been right here all day, and nobody has gone by except Pete Larrabee. It was he who gave me the bill. Are you sure that he came this way the —the—horse thief ?” “ Ko ; but we didn’t know but he might.” Presently the three men sat down to the supper that the young girl prepared for them. And, while they were eating, she herself, at her father’s bidding went ont to take the saddle off Bueno, his horse, and give him feed. As she approached the door once more, a few minutes after, she heard words which caused her to stop and listen. “ I don’t like ter say anything agin’ that kid o’ yourn, neighbor, one of the men was saying, but it has kinder seemed to me all this while though she had somat on her mind like. Ye don’t suppose anything ’bout that that young feller arter all ?” Sacramento’s father laughed at this as though it was too absurd to be considered.

The other, however, was not to be laughed out of his suspicions. “For all we know she may hev hid him somevvhers on the premises.” “ It’s easy enough to see,’returned the proprietor of the said premises, testily, “where d’ye think she’s hid him? In her bedroom?”

As he said this, Sacr-amento, who was now near enough to see into the kitchen,, saw her father rise and step to the door of the room where she had concealed the fugitive. Her heart almost stopped beating as she saw him push open the door and enter the room, followed by his companion.

“We -will make a close search of it while we are about it,” she heard him say within.

And then she stood there in terrible suspense upon the porch, expecting every instant to hear the shout that would follow the discovery of the fugitive. But no such shout was heard, and instead of it, a moment or two later, the men came out again, her father still laughing at his friend.

She listened. “ The words came in a distinct whisper from directly above her.

She stood and thought a single moment before replying. Then she said, “You must get away from here at once,” in an eager whisper. “ One of the men suspects something, and

hey may at any moment make a search of the place. lam going- into the house a minute. Get down at once and go through the garden and across the trail to a spring that you will find there. It’s at the foot of a big cottonwood tree. Stay right there until I come.”

Teii minutes later, standing in the shadow of the cottonwood, young Somers heard a step, and then Sacramentq, leading Bueno all saddled and bridled, appeared. He started forward.

“ Hush ! ” she said : They may come at any moment. Listen to what Isay. Your life depends upon it. You must ride straight down the trail lor a quarter of a mile. Then, close hy a big , cottonwood, just like this, you will strike a path to the left. Bueno will know it once you get him in it. It will bring you, but half mile on, at a corduroy road that crosses the swamp. The end of this corduroy has got out of order, and there are some logs laid. Lead Bueno across, and then pull the logs away. If you do that it will make trouble for those who follow you. Beyond the swamp is a big plain. Strike straight across it, having the moon square on your right —the moon will be up by that time —and three hours’ riding will bring you to the new railroad. After that—God help you to get safe away |" Sacramento paused and put out her hand. “ Can you remember ?” she demanded.

“ I can, tut I can never forget —” “ Never mind that. Here, take this. It is a little money. You will need it. Now mount and ride — slowly a little way, and then for your life.” The young man still had hold of her hand. The tears came into his eyes. The next moment he was gone. The next morning Sacramento told her father the story and. coaxed him into forgiving her. And the following afternoon a man brought Bueno over from the railroad town, and then she knew the fugitive was safe. Six weeks later a lawyer from Santa Barbara appeared with a letter from Walter Somers He was with his friends in New York. He begged Sacramento to accept, as a gift of gratitude, at least the amount of the reward that had been offered. And so it was that she went down to San Francisco to school that winter after all. —Selected.