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Show II I By Tistol "Route to Florida. I Little Jack and Gladys, twin children of Mrs. I ' Nelson, were in a fever of excitement during the I Mill ! I afternoon of December 24th. for at the advanced M ji I age of seven years they still believed in the ex- m H I istence of Santa Claus. 1 ill Pinkey was also an interested spectator of the M m i ij preparations being made for the coming Christ- ( ma3 day, particularly did the kitchen hurry and fi I bustle appeal to his taste and smell, for Pinkey l J 1 was an adept in judgment of palatablo viands, al- U l though ho was only a stump-tailed, bow-legged K bull pup. it j Mrs. Nelson was a widow, her husband having i I been killed the preceding summer at El Caney, j j ' and aside from the pittance granted her by the Hjlj f J Government, her only support was from her daily H I ,L Labors as a seamstress, which was too small to per- Hl mit here to give her little ones the playthings so HI! dear to baby hearts, nor was she able to take the HIh trip so long recommended to southern States, H 'ji: where her old friend and physician had urged her H J' I ' to go for the purpose of regaining her shattered jj K 1 health. She lived alone in a little cottage with m pi ;i her two children, and had so far managed to keep H S j", the wolf from the door, but today she bent anx-H anx-H 11,!, I iously over her work with tears slowly streaming H Mi, ! down her thin cheeks, heart hungry for the good H If i husband who had cheered her early married life, H W B ! and frequently she glanced at the sword and pistol H m f, ! i which his captain had brought her from far off H M i Cuba. Her babies were playing in the front room H ' ' adjoining the pretty sewing-room and bedroom H M combined, in which she did her work, and she H Wti) ! , wondered how much of her scanty hoard she would Hilflfi !: dare to spend to brighten the coming Christmas Si day for them. As v.he evening shadows fell she j arose and lighted the gas, and, after eating a hasty ! supper, returned to her work, the twins and Pinkey playing with a rubber ball on the rug in front of Hra' ! the fireplace. Bjl:Ii I ' "Mamma," said little Jack, stopping for a mo- BipP ment in his play, "May we sit up tonight and Hi J I ' watch for old Santa Claus? "We never did see B ' ft , him you know, mamma, and sister and Pinkey Hi: k and me will be quiet as mice if you will let us see 9 I him tonight. Will you, mamma?" Bij'f! ' The tired mother smiled and replied: Hfrfl "Now, dearie, you know old Santa Claus loves Hffi 5 little children, but he never lets them see him be- Hln a ! cause it would interrupt his work, and he would f". ' ! not have time to go all around town and fill all , i , the stockings for the good little boys and girls if ' he had to stop and talk to each one." Hi!:1 ; , "Yes, but mamma." exclaimed Gladys, "we HI1 i , won't talk to him him. we'll dess look at him so H,jy I to see if he looks like he was going to give us ; ; everyflng we wants. And mamma, do you sink he'll bring me the dolly and dolly carriage and stocking wiv long legs, and Jackie the rocking ! horse and drum and red-topped boots?" i The tired woman bent lower over her work as I she replied with a sob, "My darling, I am sure Santa Claus will bring you all he can remember , that you want if you are good babies and mind ' ;' J mamma, but you must go to bed early and go to sleep so that mamma can take this dress to Miss Burton, who is to be married tomorrow, and must have it tonight to try on. I may be gone over an hour, but you can take Pinkey ta bed with you and tomorrow, when you open your eyes you will see i what Santa Claus has brought for you." The little ones, in spite, of their desire to see the wonderful Santa Claus, arose obediently and followed their tired mother to the bedroom with Pinkey trotting contentedly at their heels. ,i As soon as the children were undressed and had knelt side by side with their mamma and said i ' their prayers, they climbed into the little white bed with Pinkey snuggled down between them and 1 ;. i were soon fast asleep. The tired mother soon fln- i , ished the beautiful wedding dress, over which she 1 shed a few tears as she thought of her own wed ding day, when her loved one had taken her down M to the little country church in the early spring it j time, through the crowd of friends who had gath- .mc ered to rejoice with her in her new found happi-HlP happi-HlP aj ness, but now the pretty white dress she had worn nfl fj ! "svas laid among the treasures sacred to the mem- M If ory of the martyred husband and the future looked fi ;! dark and foreboding, indeed. She went softly into Hi'l ml the room where her babies were sleeping, and H'i bending over their sweet faces imprinted a soft Sw jv ' MaHMHBHUaKaHl.n.unuM,.HlaMBBMnBaaIIIlal kiss on each of the upturned faces, while little Pinkey blinked sleepily and nestled closer to his beloved companions. Mrs. Nelson stole softly from the room and prepared for her long walk to the home of Miss Burton, the sheriff's daughter, with the precious wedding dress carefully wrapped in soft paper under her arm. Nearly an hour went by, when black-eyed Pinkey raised his head from the pillow and looked suspiciously toward the hall door, then the black eyes snapped and a low growl came from between the white teeth. Jaclcy awoke and putting his little hand over Pinkdy's nose, whispered "Hush, Pinkey, what is the matter with you?" At this the blue eyes of Gladys slowly opened, just as a rasping noise like a key ttlrning sounded through the partially darkened rooms. Breathlessly she whispered to her little brother, "Is Santa Claus coming, Jackey?" "I guess so; he can't get down the chimney 'cause there's a fire, and I think he is coming through the door." Pinkey made another effort to growl, but was quickly suppressed by Jack's hand and suddenly the hall door opened slowly and a tall man stepped cautiously into the room. In one hand he held a dark lantern, in the other a heavy bludgeon. Carefully Care-fully he shaded his eyes from the faint light of the fireplace, and stole softly across the room toward the high old-fashioned dresser near which the little lit-tle stockings had been carefully hung. Jack and Gladys watched his movements with intense interest, in-terest, for in spite of the lack of snow-white beard and rotund paunch depicted in all the pictures they had seen of Santa Claus, the children believed that they had at last discovered their beloved benefactor bene-factor as he was about to deposit the expected presents pres-ents in their open-mouthed stockings. Pinkey, however, was not so well satisfied with the appearance ap-pearance of the man and, jerking his head loose from Jack's restraining hand he gave vent to a series of ear-splitting barks and wriggled out of the bed and sprang at the intruder with all the fury of a wild cat, setting his sharp teeth in the leg of the man who swore like a madman as he tried in vain to kick nimself loose from the brave, little dog. Jack was a smcxt little fellow and at once realized real-ized that the man who would try to kill his pet could not be the great-hearted Santa Claus who took delight in bringing pleasure to his friends, and jumping out of bed, closely followod by his little sister, he marched boldly into the front room and addressed the intruder, who he noticed had his face partially covered with a black mask. "Say, you ain't Santa Claus, are you?" The burglar, for such the strange man was, turned with a curse, having freed himself from Pinkey's sharp teeth and lowered his dark lantern until its bright light shone full upon the upturned face of little Jack. "Naw, I haint Santa Claus, you little brat, an' I'll beat the head off of yer if you don't climb right back into that bed and take that gal and that pesky pup with you." So saying, say-ing, he made a vicious kick at Pinkey which had no effect other than to start the little fellow barking bark-ing again and snapping at the legs of the tall intruder. in-truder. Jack bent down swiftly and clasped little Pinkey in his arms and then raising his fearless eyes to the burly burglar exclaimed, "You are a thief, that's what you are, and you are going to steal my mamma's silver and papa's watch, I know you are, but you just wait, Santa Claus will be here in a minute and he'll tend to you." The man gave vent to a short, surly growl and grabbed the little boy by the arm, crying, "Where is the silver an watch, you little cuss, quick, or I'll wring your neck." Hardly had his hand fallen on the arm of little Jack when Pinkey's teeth met through the big thumb and with a yell the hand was withdrawn, the nervy little dog keeping his hold until the man, with a scream of pain, dashed the poor little fellow cruelly against the wall, breaking his hold on the hand from which the blood flowed in a stream. Gladys ran forward and raised the little dog in her arms, where he lay gasping for breath. The burglar, now thoroughly maddened by pain and anger, grabbed the boy roughly by the arm and forcing him toward the dresser, hissed: "Now, quick, dang ye, where is the spoons and watch?" Little Jack set his teeth firmly and looked fearlessly fear-lessly into the angry face, as he said, "I won't tell you. They are mamma's and you shaut havo them. You can kill me, but I'll never tell." The burglar raised Jack up until his face waa on a level with his own and seating him roughly on the broad mantel just under the dead soldier's sword and pistol, which hung loosely from ribbonn on the wall, growled: "Look a' here, you jest set thar quiet until I've looked through this yer cupboard an' don't you so much as squeak or off comes your head." The burglar then opqned a sack and took from it a short bar of iron which he inserted between the doors of the cupboard and with a quick wrench burst them apart. When Jack saw all his mother's moth-er's precious silver and watch, the watch of his dear, dead father, lying within reach of the thief, his little heart gave a great leap and throwing up his hand it came in contact with the heavy army revolver which had hung there loaded just as it had been found in his father's clinched hand when he fell before the fire of Spanish soldiers. He had frequently snapped his little toy pistol at imaginary imagin-ary Spanish soldiers and knew that much regarding regard-ing the method of firing a pistol, and so, while the burglar was busily engaged in transferring the . precious store from the dresser to his sack, the little fellow held the great pistol firmly between his hands and pulled with all his strength on the self-cocking trigger. There was a terrific explosion, ex-plosion, the pistol fell to the floor and Jack followed fol-lowed it and fell sprawling right in front of the man, who, with a scream of agony, straightened up, staggered and with a horrible curse dropped to the floor, the blood bursting from a ragged wound in his neck, where the bullet had entered. PInbcy had by this time recovered from his rough treatment, and bounded to the floor, barking furiously fu-riously as he stood beside the Indly frightened little lit-tle boy, who sat looking wonderingly at the wounded man lying still and white, his life blood flowing in a little stream across the pretty rug on which he had fallen. Gladys sat upright in her bed screaming with all her might, when the door was swung open and the sheriff, who had accompanied accom-panied Mrs. Nelson home, burst into the room, followed fol-lowed by the frightened mother. Tho sight that met their eyes was enough to startle the strongest heart, but the sheriff was a man of courage and action and stepping quickly to the side of the bleeding, unconscious man, rolled him over and, with a startled cry, exclaimed: "Black Dave, by all that is good. Who shot him?" "Papa's pistol did, Mr. Burton, he was stealing ' mamma's sliver and papa's watch and I told him he shouldn't have them." For a moment the startled sheriff looked incredulously in-credulously at the brave little fellow who was now wrapped closely In his mother's arms, while Pinkey danced around the room in a perfect frenzy of delight de-light and little Gladys was sobbing convulsively at her mother's knees. "And you shot him, Jackey," exclaimed the sheriff as he grasped the hand of the startled boy. "Well, let me tell you that you have done the best job for this town and for yourself that has been done in many a day, for this is the notorious Black Dave, an outlaw, a fugitive from justice and one of the Great Northern train robbers for whom there has been a standing reward of ?2000 for the past year. He killed an express messenger a year ago in a hold-up, and we have been after him ever since. And you killed him, you brave little fellow. fel-low. Well you are a brave son of a brave soldier and you need never be ashamed of this night's work." And so it proved to be, for Black Dave, who now lay cold and dead on the scene of his crime, was ono of the most dangerous robbers at large in tho country, and the following day the express company com-pany placed in the hands of Mrs. Nelson twenty new $100 bills as the reward for the death of the notorious robber, and the stockings of Jack and Gladys were filled to the tops with all tie good things they had longed to possess, and Pinkey's sleek sides were puffed out until he looked like a case of dropsy, with the porterhouse steak which ho had earned on Christmas eve. Two weeks later, mamma and Jack, Gladys and little Pinkey were drinking in the sweet perfume from the mag-. mag-. nolia blosspms in sunny Florida, and the friendly guests of the great hotel never tired of listening to Jack's quaint tale of the bad man who had tried to steal mamma's silver and papa's watch on that memorable Christmas eve. |
