"Come up and take a seat here on
the porch," he eaid. "Ill go up and
get ready."
He took his rifle and went upstairs,
aWfeJtB&fcA^2M~^^&t^.-'''**--.. it- A--
"I BEG YOUR PARDON, MR. SWEENEY, BUT IS THAT GUN LOADED?"
while I waited. Now that the strain
of this stratagem was over, I was con
scious of a burning thirst. I called
Sweeney's sister and asked her to give
me a drink of water. Hardly had I
swallowed this when Sweeney reap
peared in the doorway. He had left
the Winchester in the house, but in its
place he had brought his nine-inch .45
Colt six-shooter.
"Well," he said, suspiciously, "now
that you have found the way here you
can get on your horse and lead the
way back again."
While he was speaking his brother
brought Baldy around, and Sweeney
mounted it, while I went ahead and,
after having let down the bars, mount
ed my own horse. Sweeney motioned
to me to lead the way, which I did.
While the horses picked their path
along the trail that led back through
the dense brush, Sweeney rode close
behind me, his revolver in his hand,
and grew loquacious, telling me how
he had practiced Bhooting with the
James gang, and how he had proved
to be the best marksman of the lot. He
also pointed out a clump of bushes
near the path, in which, he said, the
gang had been encamped during the
period that they had been ia the neigh
borhood.
While I had perfect confidence in
the success of my plan, it was not
without a distinct sense of relief that
I saw the open prairie in front of me
and Vinita in the distance. Then I
unfolded a proposition to Sweeney.
