| Show t 1 I Ia I 1 a i True Tree Tales of the On t Edited by WM J BACON i if Secret tT Service by byan b On Government Orders Ord ls 1 si t a l an Ez Ex Operative r The he Clue of the t Liquor Bottles les H f Editors Note On Government Or 01 Orders I dens ders Is a Eerie of or stories that are hid Inci Incident t 1 dents dent In the life Ue of or a s I formerly well known but now retired secret service officer of or I i long Jong and faithful service New Nw that he Is Ii off duty he has been Induced to tell mime Hume 9 of or the more mor dramatic of or his man fas tas fascinating I i 1 experiences es In some there 18 Is the love element In others there Is a mys mystery m myse e tery ter and all breathe a spirit of or adventure ture Lure A complete narrative narrative IP Is told in each Issue j J Some years ago before I became I i 1 1 connected co with the United States se secret secret sel l j cret service In the east I was wail engaged f lj n by a member of at the western express t j companies to do some special work for fort t them began DIckson My Iya Iy a u headquarters were In Denver and the e y 1 i F work on the whole was decidedly In Interesting f J te One adventure In particular lb r I I made me proud of or my service for our ourt ouri t i i company although It was w s largely a ai i I matter of luck that brought about my ih I success In that Instance I am a firm i t believer in luck for it plays an Important i 1 t I tant part In every mans roans life Ufe and It ItI j I has hag figured to a large extent In my own f I I affairs I am free ree to confess i i i A daring express robbery had been Jt 1 t committed in the western part of or the I a state near the Utah line by three met men The messenger had been mur murdered mura i a j i t dered and the passengers throughout a i t ai j the train robbed of ot all their money mane maneI I a The holdup men secured something a I t It I 1 i I I more than from the express t compan safe and fully from tit h i I t tI r r r I j i the passengers They took nothing but c r I money however leaving Jew Jewelry Jewelry elry diamonds and watches with their r owners and Ignoring the parcels In the express car This circumstance showed i that the gang was composed of ex experienced t i 11 1 I thieves for money IF Is the j I hardest thing In the world to trace traceI tra traI a l I was notified of the robbery robber on the I j afternoon of the day after it oc occurred oci i i cursed and although I 1 hastened to the i I spot lIot with all dispatch and made my t i I i arrangement by wire it was noon of or the third day lay before I alighted at t the Ii nearest station Here I had arranged for or two horses and a prospectors out outfit outI outfit I I fit deeming It best belt to follow tallow the ban bandits banI I tilts In the disguise of or a miner as the theE j I E robbery had been made at a n point near neara a I the th mining region of southwestern Coly Col Colorado If l j i orado and I expected to find the crim criminals y re f I I f at some of the numerous mining u camps t I have never neer been a believer in dis die dish h i I I II except as to 10 clothing All AU ef efforts Ii I i forts torts to change the face with grease greasepaints I I paints paint and wigs and the like only tend to attract intention and direct suspicion i t Ion don to the man thus togged out The I 1 I f casual observer might not notice the I deception but the criminal and am espe especially esper r c daily the hunted criminal Is no cas casual casI d I ual observer He Ie has formed the habit J i t of or noticing everything and he will de detect dejl der deo o jl r l toot teet the least false point In a mans mansI appearance and shun him as If It he were t afflicted with Ith the plague I I A change of or dress will work won wonders t ders tiers in a mans appearance If It a man 7 I can wear ear other clothes than those he heIs heis 1 I Is b accustomed to and wear them easily Ii i and naturally he can more effectually disguise d himself by this means than he f 1 can al with all the wigs and paints a d whiskers in existence C I l 4 i i Coming across the continental di dl divide vile vide I had suffered a slight attack of indigestion I 1 sent the porter after a ar r t flask of whisky asking for a certain y f brand He lIe returned in a few minutes minutest t I with one of the diminutive little bottles I customarily sold on sleeping cars at a I HI quarter a bottle It was not the kind kindI kinda a I I t I had bad ordered but the porter explained i J that th t this was the he only brand of or liquor IS I the company p any sold and am I 1 had to be b con content co n nt f t I tent with it The label of or the bottle bottles s stated stat d that It was as put up expressly for forthe fora a 4 the company compan S uOn On reaching my ms m destination I Im lm Immediately mediately assumed the character of at a 9 i e miner and set lt about my inquiry There I l was little information to be gathered S if beyond what was contained In the ex express exi t i press report of o the robbery f E 4 of which I had a carbon copy COP Satis Satisfied r I fied fled that time spent here would be 1 wasted I set out for tor the scene of or the robbery riding a wiry Iry little pony and andt t leading loading another on which was s packed t my m outfit of or grub and cooking impie Implements iq meats ments men l and miners tools The place was a desolate spot snot The road ran Tan through a broad alkali val valley al lev ley which had not at that time been brought ht under cultivation by irrigation f It Il was easy to pick up the trail tran of M I bandits and follow It across the 11 valley alley In a southwesterly direction to the foot foothills foothills foothills hills of the where the trail trait disappeared the rocky rock ground leav leaving leavIng leaving ing no trace From this point on It was ras to be a matter of at luck and guesswork I be believed believed my men had made mad for Telluride Ouray Oura Silverton or some other mining camp but I was Mot hot rash enough to venture a guess guetis a as to which it might be at that stage of the game These camps c with their rough Tough shifting shirting population population lation offered capital retreats ats for crim criminals crimInals criminals and from past experiences I Knew that my m three rogues would In all probability remain In one of at these camps until the excitement from the robbery had subsided and an then make for civilization to spend their money For three days das I drifted at random through the mountains ying trails and amI paths for there were no roads en endeavoring endeavoring to pick JIlek up some clew or find the place where my party part had spent the first night after the robbery robber The holdup hall hail occurred about noon and by hard hand riding the three highwaymen could penetrate some fome ten or twenty miles Into the fastness of or the moun mountains mountains before It became be ame too dark to trav travel el 1 further It was out of or the question for tor any anyone one to advance through that region after atter dark I hoped to find the place of their camp and felt sure I would do so o by b persevering Late the third afternoon n I stumbled on the ashes of or a campfire and beside it among the firs Ori and an Mars ars I found where here horses had been ben tied This Tins was what I had searched for and I Mt felt sure that I would here find something of at value alu I camped a short distance from the place so I not disturb it leaving my m examination until the next morning when I would have a good light it then being too dark to at attempt attempt attempt tempt such a thing That night by the light of or my campfire I read again the report of t the robbery as given gln n by b the train hands hand Near the la last t t Of f it was the account of or orthe the sleeping car porter who related r lat d with evident grief that he be had hud been relieved of at in silver and that th t the bandits had rifled the liquor cabinet of or orthe the buffet taking with them all the th whisky and a few bottles of or the rarer and stronger wines Early Earh next morning I examined the deserted camp of at the highwaymen There was nothing but a pile of or ashes and charred sticks and a afew afew afew few empty bottles The bottles bottes gave the clew for tor which I searched The highwaymen had certainly made their camp here Each bottle bore the label of or the sleeping car company and some of ot them were the diminutive flasks of which I had drunk one on the trip tripp from tram Denver There was not a scrap of pa paper paper paper per anywhere else to be found und Elated with my success I made mada a survey country and dis oer l a trail leading farther tarther Into the mountains I took up this trail and followed It as beJ beC be I could until nightfall Often OCten I r lost It and Fome times spent sIlent an hour or more casting about to pick It UD up again as I have seen hounds baffled on the trail trait of ot a fox About 3 that afternoon I found something that made my eyes sparkle Shattered f into a thousand pieces was the remains of one of the small whisky whish bottles on a large fiat rock beside the trail tr where It if had doubtless been cast in a playful mood induced Ind ced by b Its contents Among mong the fragments I found the label of the th car company compan It was a the dry dr season eason and this was In my In favor for no rains came to obliterate obliterate erate the trail tran For flee five days I followed the bandits across the hills and through the valleys valles verifying my m route from time to time by fragments of broken whisky whisk bottles along the way vay and at the places where they had camped for fora a night The buffet car must have been well stocked for I found many man bottles In ht this Journey The trail eventually came to a well beaten road which from my m map I T learned was the stage staze and mall mail route from Montrose the nearest railroad point to tn Ouray Oura then a rather insignificant InsignifIcant Insignificant mining settlement I lost no time in getting tn tt Ouray Oura for it was impossible Impossible Impossible sible to trail my m men along this road and I was sure they had headed for forthe forthe forthe the mining camp Two days das were spent at Ouray with without without out finding a trace of ot the three men I They had not stopped there certainly certain I IfO so fO I took the trail to Telluride a mining min mining ing camp farther on in the mountains I Telluride was then a camp of ot to 1000 souls and there was a bit of a mining boom on which daily dally brought new prospectors to swell its citizenship fatuous souls brought there by the greed of gold golda a lure that never neer falls fails to attract victims In swarms For three thre days I searched in vain through the Saloons and dance halls haUs and other places where the rough miners congre congregated congregated congregated gated without finding a trace of or my m three rogues That Infallible sixth sense tenSe of mine was doing its best to keep me longer In Telluride although al hough my Judgment told me to move on to Silverton but in the end my intuition won the fight and I remained One evening I was drinking with a rawboned miner The whisky was abominable The distillery where it was made would never neer have hae recognized Its product in its form J I complained of or the poor quality of at whisky and asked my m acquaintance if It there were not some better stuff to be found in the camp He said there was not at any an of or the bars but that he had been b en given glen an amazingly good drink by bya a miner whose name he hee mentioned He said It had been in a little bottle which held just enough to tease one but it was the best liquor he had drunk since he left Kentucky m many ny years ears be before before fore ore He licked his Ups lips lip in pleasant memory of at the drink I 1 almost gave myself away awa so keen was my m pleasure at this chance re remark remark remark mark I inquired about the generous owner of at the good liquor with a show of or indifference I was far from feeling He was a late arrival it seemed and lived In a shanty far up on the moun mountainside mountainside with two companions The three were making a rather poor at attempt attempt attempt tempt to work a claim they had pre preempted preempted pre preempted empted Getting away from my loquacious miner friend I climbed the steep trail trait to the cabin and set about an investigation inv investigation gation gatlon of It with great caution The Themen Themen Themen men were ere at home and from the sounds issuing from Crom its closed doors door i I guessed they the were having a rare old time that evening I approached to the very ver door and listened with my m ear to the planks to sounds of or revelry within The men were gambling and drinking and r I could hear the clink of coins and the rattle of at bottles and the ribald Jests with which they made their bets and gloated over their winnings and cursed their luck uric when they lost 1 heard sufficient to make me sure Burl that my Ought bandits were in the cabin although there was no direct mention of at the express robbery fo ber berIt It would have b le been the rankest folly foUy to hate have attempted their arrest without assistance although I did tackle such a Job once in my salad days das as this scar will testify and he pointed to an ugly wound at the back backof of at his neck partially covered by his flowing gray locks But that is 18 an another another another other story sto I decided to call caU on the United States deputy marshal a man manof manof manof of bravery for assistance a There was no chink or crack In the thedoor thedoor thedoor door through which I could gain a n peek at the Interior of or the cabin seI so se soI q qI I dropped down on my hands anti and amI knees and crawled around to the back backof of at the cabin where I thought there might be a window There was a window win window dow dou but It was closed with a heavy shutter and I could not find any an point to peek through but I 1 did find some something something something thing on the way wa around My tb hand touched something round and smooth and I clutched It involuntarily It was one of ot the little whisky k flasks After Atter I had left the cabin I struck a match and examined it i The label of the car company was still stilt on it The deputy marshal was found at atone atone atOne one of or the dance halls and he soon summoned a reliable posse We sur surrounded surrounded surrounded rounded the cabin from which still is issued Issued issued sued the sounds of at revelry The men menwer were stationed at every point about it Then the marshal and I rapped on the door In response to our summons one of or the miners staggered across the floor and threw the door wide open We e tripped him up and rushed over Oer him Into the cabin The men mn w were re too drunk to make any an resist ance an e and we captured a them Without a shot being fired fired re They were liar hav having ha hain ing in a big stud st ap poker ker game me pi with gold pieces arid and an currency curren J of chips There FRS vas some Bome or upon the table Strewn about the floor were many man whisky and wine nine bot bottle bottles tle Ue In a box beneath one of the bunks was a solitary pint bottle or pf whisky the last remnant of ot the con contents contents contents tents of the buffet cars liquor store It H was as I said a clean case of oC luck Next ext week Captain DIckson will m re relate relate relate late the story of The Mysterious House Next Door Copyright 1908 1905 by b W V G Chapman Copyright In Great Britain |
