Frank James in St. Louis OR The Mysteries of a Great City

Waihi Daily Telegraph, Volume V, Issue 1428, 12 September 1905, Page 4

Frank James in St. Louis OR The Mysteries of a Great City

CHAPTER XVI, A lEiP FOB UPK Should tho bluo coata dare to come be--low the Muine Houbo he is ready to give them- ft wnrtj reooption and gonerally speaking the tmttdoes not shoot save to hit hiemaik. A minuted two paaaos. i Then a ory is raised,that a path leads below the queer little house' built over tho canal, , , ~ . . The officers jostle each other to reach it, Before their eyes is tho great reward of '' twenty-five thousand dollats offored fov the body of the man they Boaroh (or, dead • or alive, Prank James sees his ohanoe. Itia'bueina thousand,' andhoseizes it. Strange that not a single officer cirrying a bull's-eye remains, on tlje wall to keep watch on tbo. water bolow; such a thing would have sadly interfered with his fitting. , ■■. He immediately roleaseß his bold. ' The flat boats floats upon tho curront y: ■ und pasBOB out froni undor tho Flume Howe wiih.the hunted Missouri outlaw orouctarig down in it, a>> the mercy of tho rushing water. Thero is Mhance •of his upsetting at ■ ' any momoui, and so fierce is the onrrent / ' [and : so dense the gloom that ho does not f• ■ " know what would beeouie of him thou. ■ ■ Death seems very near; he con imagine ,' the cold chill falling upon him. • ;i ' His wioked past.seoms to rise tip and haunt him iit is at such timo that the desperado fools a slight twinge of the malady called fear. It concerns the fatiive beyond the grave,

however, not this fleeuor; existonco. THe two men above are on tbo watch. They' osnuot penetrate tho darkness with any.degroo of certainty, jot tho man in the boat imagines tbat tboy must seo l him plainly; ho forgets that they are tbovo him and outlined ngsinnt tho sky. .'One of the men suddenly fives bis revolver. . Frank James cowora still closor in the b D4t i , ... > 1 He has not besn'sttuck, bat it is something new for bim to be ifired at] without returning the oompliinent. He sweeps below. "What did you shoot at?" asks the <• leoond officer. "Saw BOjnolhing moving belorf; took it to be a boat," is the reply. « Boat or no boat, I wouldo't shoot igain. Some of our boys might be moving about." ,/ ~ "True, but they should have left us a

light." So thoy'keep watoh and ward over tho flume, but all ia uselesMhe bird has ' 1 flown, . The current carries Frank James along p with exceeding rapidity. Finally, after eevero buffetingßj tho email boat soems to glide.out, upon , smooth water. J The voyagor experioncoa a thrill of satI' isfaotion.' ; He is DOW upon tho boiotn of the great ■j -iV Mississippi Biver inafrailboat.' < ' A new danger suddenly faces him. Water seems to»covor the bottom of tho boat. I How it got in is a mystery, for he has ■" been running no rapids or falls. Ssarohing about him he disoovbrs the 1 * truth, There is a small'round hole—his little fiogor will just fit in it-io the side of the boat." , " Thd wator wells through it. *- How cam ait tboce V Ho romemlie'rß rf"-' tbo'shot that was fired at bim by tho ofll- >' cor on the wall of tho flumo; undoubtedly the fellow's bullet struck hero, . Already this holo is. below the water \,' line, arid soon the boat must sink, unless 1 something is done to meet tho emergency. > How is he to closo it up ? , Taking out a cartridge, ho bends over '■ f and insorts it in the holo—it sticks, and jr l does the business. / Nothing like the .old motto similia i ) 'swuhbuscMra/itar—liko cures liko, He feels pleased with hi 3 ingenuity. Still, an u»ly iutura futons him. The boat is almost a Uud full of water, ] how oan be bale it out ?' I ' Again he oonooives a plan, i 1 Neccs»itj is the mother of invention. J, His hat comes into play. - Eagerly, he dips up <im wator, and ', pours it over tbo,side of the boa!. |; All tho while he is boing borne fucther i out upon the bosom of tho river. The current too, sweops him down. l"i It is indeed dangerous to bo gliding f J down past tbo great river city ic the dark- ''' ncß9, but the man in tho boat has little fear, f ; He feels around, Are there any oars in tbo boat ? II He cannot remember having struck any ( as he floundered around seeking the cause / of the water finding nn entrance. ( Under tbe oi'rcuinstances, there ,he i jB glad to discover a single oar. Its fellow has beon lost. , f This ssoms aggravating, for what can a i man do with a sinple oar. , , t Perhaps tho boat is not meant to row, i ' These flat bottomed crafts havo another V : • i

by w, b. lawson.

means of guidance, being square at stern and bow. So he creeps to the stern, and discovers that thero is a pheo for a sculling oar. It is not ovory ono who can scull a boat. Thore is a certain Itnaolt about it. Frank James lina not spent a great deal of his life upon tho wator. Ho knows something about tho work, and begins to pracjico it. • Not that ho wants to go ashore his present situation pleases him fully. Ho lias givon St. Louis the" go by" he hopes and it is time, seeing that ibe whol 1 force of polio'e sectu to bo on the watoh lor him. ■ [To h continued)