Adventure stories; Mines and mineral resources -- Fiction; Western stories
"Well, I want to thank you. I bin keepin’ my eyes open for you since
that night. I want to thank you for that service you done me. Any time
you want a——" but I did not catch his last words. The driver had
mounted the box, gathered up the "ribbons," sprung back the brake, and
with a sudden leap forward we were off in a whirl of dust. I nodded my
head vigorously to Canlan, glad enough to see that he was only anxious
to be friendly and to thank me for the service I had rendered him
instead of embarrassing me with questions as to my destination.
Away we went along Baker Street and shot out of the town, and there,
just at the turning of the road, was Apache Kid by the roadside, and he
stood aside to let the horses pass. The driver looked over his shoulder
to make sure that he got on safely, but there was no need to stop the
horses, for with a quick snatch Apache Kid leapt aboard and sat down,
hot, and breathing a little short, beside me.
*CHAPTER VII*
_*The Man with the Red Head*_
Of two incidents that befell on the journey to Camp Kettle, I must tell
you; of the first because it showed me Apache Kid’s bravery and calm;
and that the first of these two noteworthy incidents befell at the "Rest
Hotel" where we had "twenty minutes for supper" while the monster
head-lamps were lit for the night journey; for between Baker City and
Camp Kettle there was one "all-night division," as it was called.
Apache Kid, after getting into the stage, sat silent for a much longer
time than it took him to regain his wind. The high speed of travel with
which we started was not kept up all the way, needless to say, such
bursts being spectacular affairs for departures and arrivals. But with
our six horses we nevertheless made good travel.
Occasional trivialities of talk were exchanged between the
travellers—there were three others besides ourselves—and Apache Kid gave
no indication by his manner that he and I were in any way specially
connected. It was amusing indeed how he acted the part of one making
friendly advances to me as though to a mere fellow-voyager, including me
in his comments on the road, the weather, the coyotes that stood
watching us passing with bared teeth and ugly grin. Later, when one of
the others fell asleep and the remaining two struck up a conversation,
he remarked:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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