I FRUSTRATE IT. 159 



to join us, which he did. I then inquired what made him 

 change his mind as to his destination, on which he said he had 

 a friend in Nebraska, whom he wished to see. The marshal 

 asked him the friend's name, and after hearing it we went out, 

 a policeman in plain clothes being left to shadow the man. 



When we were well away from the place, the marshal said 

 that he had never seen this man's face before, but he said " I 

 know his friend well and he is a great scamp, and has under- 

 gone one sentence, I know, for horse-stealing/' We had a 

 long talk about it, and it was finally arranged that I should see 

 the man again and tell him that I was going to start in the 

 morning ; but in reality I was to be off that evening, so as to 

 reach Lincoln city, fifty miles away, by daybreak, leaving a 

 letter at the hotel at which I was supposed to be stopping, to 

 say that I knew of his plan and would shoot him " on sight " if 

 he followed me. In the evening I went to a billiard-saloon, 

 where I heard he was, and had a talk with him. He asked me 

 when I was going to start, and I told him that I thought it 

 would be about ten o'clock the next morning, and I also 

 mentioned where I was stopping. It came out, in the course 

 of conversation, that he had been champion prize-fighter of 

 Montana, and therefore a very awkward man to have met 

 even without weapons. 



I was off about seven o'clock, and rode all night, the road 

 being luckily a very plain one as it was the old stage road, and 

 before morning I was in Lincoln city, and had to wait some time 

 for the hotel to open. I had a note for the marshal here, 

 telling him to stop the man should he discover my ruse and 

 succeed in evading the police in Nebraska city; but I never 

 saw him again. 



