M2 



THE AMERICAN BEE KEEPER. 



November 



than you «j) Iru us detcmiiued as any 

 inau liviug that Jini bmnper shau t 

 have Kir.y l^u'ly. 1 happtu to ku.nv 

 that she loves another luau who wol Id 

 try to be wortliy of her aud who will 

 luarry her if the general can ever be 

 t-ouviuced that a big fortune is not es- 

 fcential to her happiness. Jim's immeiiso 

 wealth, got uo,-^. y knows how, dai-zles 

 the gtuerul Icr a ume, but he will nev- 

 er ask Kitty to i_arry against her will, 

 and 1 can see that Jim is losing ground 

 every cay ii' the general's esteem. It is 

 all right to let matters take their course, 

 aud nothing must be done that will 

 make her talked about. 



But old Bud did not belong to the 

 class of men who are content to drift. 

 The necessity of his life had been to 

 plan, plot ai- J anticipate the movements 

 of the enemy, but he said nothing, and 

 I accepted the matter as at an end for 

 the time.- 



It was a month before we were 

 startled by a very unexpected occur- 

 rence. Bud rushed into the room w^here 

 the general and I were transacting 

 some business to announce that Jiu: 

 Bumper had kidnaped Kitty and was 

 following the old trail to the nearest 

 large city. Ko time was lost in lamenta- 

 tions or inquiry. With a rush for arms 

 and horses we were in the chase. For 

 hours Bud staid right wnth us on his 

 dilapidated broncho that he always saia 

 had dnne nothing more than switch its 

 abbreviated tail when struck by light- 

 ning some 15 years before. Though Jim 

 had one of the best mounts in the whole 

 teiTitory the extra weight began to 

 tell, and a little after midnight we had 

 our quarry in sight. The general was a 



flead shot. Bud never missed unless he 

 •wanted to, and 1 had a craving fox 

 vengeance that was only aggravated by 

 a gentler passion. 



What happened in the next few min- 

 utes can only be explained by the story 

 which Bud afterward told with a series 

 of chuckles and an occasional wheezy 

 laugh that seemed to expend most of its 

 force internally. 



"I laiowed all the time," he de- 

 clared, "that Jim Bmnper wouldn't 

 play no square game when the stakes 

 was so high, so I c'luded fur to take a 

 ban ra,yself. I went over an smoked a 

 pipe an had a council of war with big 



bill Planters. L^e an i^i-1 v.ster be 

 pardners. I-e has a mig..:T likely dar- 

 ter, an Jim had been shinin round her, 

 lettin on she was 'bout the kind o' wife 

 he was lookin fur. When 1 tole Bill 

 how things was siapiu up here to the 

 ranch, 1 had to fairly put hobbles on 

 him fm- to keep him frmn goiu right 

 over an spougin Jim off the yearth. He 

 was mad chin deep, but I showed him 

 a fist full o' trumps. 



' ' The upshot was we makes a late 

 call on Hank Yvuumers. Both me an 

 Bill has saved Hank's scalp num'rous 

 times, an he'd try fur to stan off satan 

 himself if we'dintermate we wanted it. 

 Nex' day Hank hires out to Jim Bump- 

 er, an it hain't long till them tw-o '\i 

 thicker than two brothers. Hank nevei 

 mentions no gal by name, but he allu< 

 says she was the sweetest critter whal 

 ever picked posies from the parary, an 

 why didn't Jim jist rope her on the 

 sly, run her off an marry her. A game 

 man could do it, an there'd be no trou- 

 ble squarin up with the ole man arter- 

 ward. 



"Jim gits up his sand an agrees, 

 Hank guaranteein to give the gal some 

 Bleepin medicine an have her in a ham- 

 mock back o' the gin'ral's house, but 

 there mus' be no brace game. Jim mus' 

 marry the gal soon's he could git to a 

 parson or a squire, or he must settle 

 with Hank. If he done square. Hank 

 would Stan by him 'gainst a whole army 

 o' rustlers, if it kim to that kind o' a 

 show down. 



"When this 'greement was all made, 

 Hank gallops over an tells me an Bill, 

 an we tells him fer to go ahead an have 

 Jim run off the prize. One o' us would 

 be at the romid up. ' ' 



When the pursuing party came with- 

 in easy range of Jim Bmnper, we saw 

 there were two horsemen instead of one. 

 When the general's voice rang out a 

 "Halt!" one of the men faced his horse 

 toward us and tlirew up his hands. Jim 

 swimg himself in the saddle, laid the 

 girl tenderly by the side of the trail 

 aud struck the spurs into his panting 

 horse. The general fired, but Jim 

 plunged ahead. I took careful aim and 

 pulled, but a shout of defiance from Jim 

 was the only result, for we were using 

 blank cartridges without knowing it. 

 Then old Bud's long rifle gave forth its 

 whiplike report, and the retreating 



