USA > California > A picture of pioneer times in California, illustrated with anecdotes and stores taken from real life > Part 46
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" Oh, sir; do not doubt me; every word I have spoken is true,
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as true as that there is a God in Heaven above us. Or, if you do not believe me, and will not save me, then in pity take me and thrown me into that river, for then my mother and brother would only hear that I was dead."
Now her face grew calm, and her voice steady, as she con- tinued:
" Dead they may hear that I am, but they shall never hear of my shame nor dishonor; for God will not permit that, I know."
Becket, full of admiration and deep sympathy, could not at once command his voice to speak; and, from this silence, poor Minnie feared he yet hesitated to become her friend. A desper- ate feeling of almost despair again came on her, and, obeying a sudden impulse to make a last appeal for protection, she sprang to her feet, stepped close to Becket, and, placing a hand on each of his shoulders, while every lineament of her features lit up with an expression of intense entreaty, she exclaimed :
" Oh, sir, have you a mother or a sister ? Oh, if you have, by. all the love and care they ever bestowed on you, save me! Oh, save me from dishonor; for, if aught befell me, my mother's heart would break, and my poor brother would wither away and die! Save me, and I will be to you a sister while life lasts! Save an unprotected girl, and God will bless and make your last hour happy!"
In a voice trembling with excitement, Becket said:
" Be calm and fear not; I will take you at your word. I am now your second brother, and will save you or die in the at- tempt."
Minnie's only answer was to grasp her protector's hand, raise it to her lips, and kiss it with wild emotion.
" Now," said Becket, " we have not a moment to lose. We are approaching Sacramento. The moment the boat nears the wharf I will leap on shore to make arrangements for your es- ยท cape. And now listen to every word I say, and do not lose a syllable of it. I will now go down and see Wild, and will tell him that you have agreed to go with him to the Eagle Hotel, if he acts right to you; he will then come and sit near you; tell him that you have agreed to take his protection, provided he acts the gentleman towards you, and makes no disagreeable advances. Then, when the boat touches, wait a little before you go on shore, but not too long, for I want a crowd on the wharf when you reach it. When the plank is adjusted, take his arm
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and walk slowly with him to the wharf. The moment you put your foot on the wharf, look for a man with a white handkerchief tied on his hat, and, with a sudden spring, rush to him. He will throw his arm around your waist, and in a minute more you will be in a hack, driven off. Trust the driver as you would your brother; for he will be under my directions, and I will soon join you. Now, to sum it up over again. Your part is this: You are to play off this fellow Wild, so as to make him satisfied, and the moment you reach the wharf, with a bound, you are to be in the arms of the man with the white handkerchief on his hat. Do you understand all now perfectly, and do you trust me as a brother ?"
" I understand all perfectly, and I trust you with my life and all, without a shadow of fear or doubt, and will obey you in everything, because you are now my brother."
Minnie spoke in a clear, low whisper, and Becket was satis- fied that it would not be her fault if his plan failed.
" Now, Minnie," said Becket, "pray to God for help. He will hear you when my prayers would have no claim."
Then Becket was on his way down the stairway to inform his friends of his success. They were all apparently highly pleased. Becket told Wild that he had pledged his word that he would be gentle and considerate in his conduct while conducting her to the Eagle Hotel. Wild laughed, and said:
" Oh, go to the Eagle Hotel; that is all right. Don't you fear, Jim; I will play my part well. Yes; I will be a perfect gentleman until dear Aunt Sally has the door lockcd behind us both. Then I will politely take that little derringer, or what- ever that is she has in her bosom, away from her. Oh, yes; I will take that away just to be sure, you know, that Aunt Sally or myself won't require a surgeon, or may be the coroner, at un- reasonable hours, you know."
Here Wild laughed heartily, and continued:
" Thank you, Jim; thank you. Come, let us all have a drink. What will you all have, gentlemen ? When will we expect you at Aunt Sally's, Jim ?"
" Oh, I will not be unreasonable, Wild. You won the girl fairly; I will call in a week or so."
" Well, well; as you say, I won the girl fairly, Jim; and you will be welcome whenever you do come; and by that time my little pet will receive you most charmingly; for she will see that
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you knew better than herself where she wanted to go. But I must be off to play my part." As he started upstairs, Mack fol- lowed him, saying:
" Introduce me, Wild."
" Oh, yes; come."
Becket looked after them, muttering low to Tom:
" A precious pair of rascals. If I owed the Devil a thousand scamps, he would give me a receipt in full for those two fellows."
Then Jim told Tom all about his interview and its result, and his plan of escape, concluding with:
" Now, when they are leaving the boat you stay close to Mack, and when the girl jumps away, of course he will run to help Wild to recover her; and as he springs forward be ready to trip him up, as if by accident, and if in this way you can hold him back a little, I feel sure that all will go right."
In ten minutes more, the Senator was trying to get into her place by the Sacramento wharf. Becket was a constant visitor to Sacramento, and knew exactly what he was about. On the first touch the boat gave the wharf, Jim had leaped upon it. At a little distance back stood three or four hacks in waiting. On one of them sat a large man, while another stood near its door. In a minute Jim had his hand on the shoulder of the man near the door, saying, as he peered into his face:
" Is this you, Jerry ?"
" Yes, sir, Mr. Jim; it is myself, of course. You are in a hurry, I see, sir; jump in, jump in." And he threw the door open.
"No, Jerry; I am not going myself; but listen and mind every word I tell you, for we have not a minute to lose."
" All right, sir ; go on, sir."
Then Jim instructed him in a few but distinct words, saying at the end:
" Do you understand me now, Jerry ?"
" Yes, sir; and sure I do; what would ail me that I would not ? Give me the handkerchief. There, now, I am ready. And where am I to drive her to? for I know the boy is a girl from what you say, Mr. Jim; and sure it's I that always likes to take care of the girls."
"None of your fooling, Jerry. Listen; I want to get some one who will just step up and knock the fellow down who will be running after the boy, you know."
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" Yes, sir; and sure it is Tim Finnigan, on the seat here by me, who is just the man we want for that. Do you only want one knocked down, sir ? He could settle three just as well as one, while I am putting the boy, as you call her, in the hack."
" Well, he may have to let into two of them, but that is the most."
" Ah, well; that will be only fun for him. Come down, Tim, and get your instructions from my friend, James Becket, Esq., of San Francisco, that I know ever since the first part of '49. God bless us."
Now Tim was instructed, and all ready. Becket then turned to Jerry, saying:
" Now, Jerry, when you get the boy in the hack, drive for the Marysville road as fast as the team can take you; but do not take the direct road from here, you know. Rush round among the streets in any way that you think will throw any one following you off of your track. When you get clear of the town, you will see a large vacant building with the window sashes out of the front windows, and wait there until I come to you, if I am not there before you. Now, I must stand out of the way, and leave you, Jerry, to manage all; and depend on good pay, both for yourself and Finnigan."
" Well, if Tim has but one to knock down, he won't charge you much, Mr. Jim; but, for the matter of that, we know our pay is all right from the likes of you, Mr. Jim. It is handing you back some of it I expect to be, and not asking for more; so God bless you, and leave it all to us, for I understand everything now; and if she, the boy, I mean, only runs to me, as you say she will, and the girls always had a way of running for me, I will meet you where you say, or will kill my horses outright in trying to do so."
Becket now took his place behind a pile of lumber, from where he could see all that transpired. Just as he got into position, the plank from the boat fell on the wharf. Becket saw Tim Fin- nigan standing in a pugilistic attitude about four paces in front of the hack, while Jerry, with the white handkerchief tied on his hat, walked carelessly towards the rushing crowd, as they came from the long plank that stretched to the Senator. Then there was a sudden fuss or rush on the plank, and now a boy dashed out like an arrow, and caught Jerry's coat collar. In an instant Jerry's powerful arm was around the boy's waist, whose
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slouched hat fell to the ground. Now, with a bound, Jerry bears his prize to the hack, and, pushing the boy in, slaps the door to. As he does so, his eyes catch the form of a powerful man rush- ing at him with a revolver in hand. Without stopping a second on that account, he leaps for his seat, and now his ear catches the sound of a blow, a groan, and a heavy fall. As he clears his reins, and brings his whip down on his horses with a will, his ear again catches the sound of another blow, another groan, and an- other fall; and now Jerry is dashing like mad away through the streets of Sacramento, in utter contempt of all ordinances against fast driving.
CHAPTER X.
PURSUIT-THE VILLAINS FOILED -- NEW FRIENDS.
As Jerry Brady urged his horses through the streets of Sacra- mento, in the dark night, with Minnie in his hack, he murmured to himself:
" Well, sure enough, Tim had two to stretch. That is all right; he will be well paid, I'll be bound; and if I am fined for this fast driving Jim 'Il square that up, too; but, sure, the ordi- nance was not meant for the night time, anyway."
After he had driven at this rate for half an hour, he dropped into a slower pace, and then stopped altogether. He leaned his head back and down towards the window of the hack, and said:
" You are all safe now, Miss; so I will drive a little slower. Them fellows can never tell which way I came. How do you feel, Miss ? Are you all right, Miss ?"
" Oh, thank you, I am all nicely, considering everything. Was there any one hurt in the scuffle, do you think, driver ?"
" Oh, no one, Miss, but the fellows that came after you, and Tim Finnigan fixed them two. Tim is a particular friend of my own; indeed, we are the same as cousins, because the Finnigans and Bradys, you see, Miss, were formerly from the same town- land in Ireland, God bless the spot; and, though my name is Brady, my grandmother on my mother's side was a Finnigan, you see, Miss."
" Do you think those unfortunate men were killed, driver ?" said Minnie, with a visible tremor in her voice.
' Oh, no, Miss; the deuce a fear of that. The likes of them never get killed, Miss; they are left on earth, you see, Miss, by a merciful Providence, just to punish us for our sins, glory be to God! Perhaps, if it was not for that, we could never get to Heaven, Miss; for we would have our own comfortable way, you know, Miss, in everything, and, may be, get too prosperous like, and grow wicked as well as rich. No, no; these two fellows are
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alive and kicking, with, may be, just a bit of a headache from the way Tim put his fist on their heads; that's all, Miss."
" Where are you to meet Mr. Becket, driver ?"
" Oh, then, I was forgetting; it's a good bit yet, Miss, so I must hurry up."
Then Jerry, while handing in to Minnie a white handkerchief, continued:
" Please, Miss, keep this for Mr. Becket, as I might lose it out here."
Now Jerry cracked his whip and put his horses into a trot, while he murmured to himself:
" Oh, hasn't she music in her sweet voice! I was forgetting myself entirely listening to it. I could have just stayed there a week if she had not reminded me of what I was about. I won- der how the mischief she came in that rig, and in Jim Becket's hands; for, the Lord preserve us from harm, he is no saint, no more than some more of us. But I know she is all right, in some way; for her voice has the good, true sound like about it that you never hear with those other kind, poor creatures! God help them!"
In a few minutes more, Jerry exclaimed:
" Oh, there we have the old building sure enough, just as the broad daylight is upon us, and, by the same token, there are the windows all gone from it, and sure there is Jim himself leaning against the fence. How the deuce did he get ahead of me so ? But sure didn't I travel as good as six miles out of my way to get here the shortest way I could, according to orders ?"
Yes; it was Becket who now called Jerry:
" Hello ! old boy; all right is it ?"
" Of course 'tis all right, sir ; I never undertake anything that had a bit of fight in it, but that it comes out all right, Mr. Becket."
" Well, you did your part first-rate, Jerry," said Becket, as he drew open the door of the hack and reached his hand to Minnie, while he continued : " How are you, Miss Minnie ? You did your part first-rate, also."
Minnie seized his hand with cordiality, and said:
" Oh, I am nicely, thank you ; and I am glad you think I did well, for I ventured to disobey instructions a little. I jumped away before we were half over the plank, as I knew the crowd would hold that man back there, better than if I waited to be on the wharf."
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" Oh, it was capital; and you did your part too, just as agreed on, for Mack fell headlong as he leaped after Wild, and then Finnigan-"
Here Jim burst out laughing so that he had to stop for a minute.
" Oh, it was too good to see Finnigan lay them out, one after another ; and see him step away as quietly as if there was nothing the matter with anybody. Oh, yes; and then to see Wild and Mack get up and wipe their faces, and ask each other who hit them, and where the hack had gone to."
There again Jim burst out laughing, in which Jerry, and even Minnie, could not help joining.
" Oh," Jim continued, " I tell you it was better to look at than any play Tom McGuire ever put on the San Francisco boards. Well, let us lose no more time. We can laugh better when we are all through in safety. After you left I saw our friend Tom, for a moment, and told him to stick close to Wild and Mack, for they do not suspect him, and to mislead them all he could. I then ran to Big Phil's, and got him to send me here in a buggy by the shortest road he could take, so I have been here these last ten minutes. Now, Jerry, can your team stand it to go to Frosty Joe's ? If they can, I can get a fresh team there to take us to Marysville."
" Oh, yes; they can stand to go as far as that."
So, Becket jumped in, and Jerry put his horses again in mo- tion, at a reasonably good pace. As Jim took his seat in the hack, he said, half-laughing :
" Ah, I see, Miss Minnie, you lost that becoming hat; but it is of no consequence, for you cannot get cold with that immense head of hair, and at Frosty Joe's I will get you some sort of woman's clothes. I have ordered your trunks forwarded to Dow- nieville by Adams & Co.'s Express."
" Oh, thank you, Mr. Becket ; that was so thoughtful of you."
" Oh, you know I am your brother, now, Miss Minnie; so don't mind thanking me for every little thing I do."
Minnie's eyes suffused with tears, and it was her only answer, but Becket understood her. A red, lurid light now shaded all the horizon to the East, and brought out to view the great Sac- ramento plains, through which they were traveling. Minnie leaned out the window of the carriage, and exclaimed :
" Oh, what immense plains ! What a strange, red light the
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rising sun throws over everything. Oh, how lonesome those plains look at this hour in the morning ; and, perhaps, all day ! Oh, that mountain in the distance is, I suppose, the Sierra Ne- vada, with its great, white snow cap. As I see it now, I can fancy it some frightful old giant, looking down with grim sternness on these great plains ; angry, perhaps, at the sight of each new intruder, coming to disturb its mighty stillness. Is all Califor- nia like this, Mr. Becket ?" she concluded, turning to him.
Before he could answer Minnie's question, Jerry leaned back, and in a hurried voice, said :
" Mr. Becket, sir ! at the turn of the road here, I looked back, and if I am not mistaken, I see horsemen coming like mad, after us."
" Oh," said Jim, coolly, " it may be. Miss Minnie, does Wild know where your brother lives ?"
" I never told him, but I am sure Mrs. Lighthead did." And Minnie trembled, and looked a little pale.
" It may be nothing, Miss Minnie ; but you must be calm ; for all may depend on that." Minnie was herself in a minute. Becket thrust his head out of the window of the carriage, and, looking ahead, exclaimed :
" Yes; there is the dry arroyo; I recollect it, with the timber on it. Jerry, when you have just turned that timber, stop ; but don't turn out of your tracks the least bit."
" Aye, aye, sir," said Jerry, as he whipped his horses to their fastest trot, and the moment he reached the spot indicated by Becket, he stopped right up. Becket jumped ont, and, putting his arm around Minnie's waist, lifted her over the dusty part of the road to the side where there was only dried-up grass ; then he took a dried willow branch, and with it rubbed out all traces of his own tracks.
" Now, Jerry, we will hide here, and you jog on slowly until those fellows pass, and when they are out of sight, come back for us. I cannot afford to run any risks in this business, and they might be the men we don't want to see just now."
" Aye, aye, sir ; well thought of, faith; though if Jim Finni- gan was here, I would just as leave have a little tussle as not."
Before Jerry got half through talking, he was jogging on, and Becket and Minnie were hid in the timber.
On the horsemen came, at full speed. Jerry heard them, but never pretended to notice them, until one of them called out :
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" Stop, or you are a dead man!" And before he could rein up a powerful man wheeled his horse in front of his team and leveled his revolver at his body, while two others, armed in the same way, were by the carriage. Jerry remained perfectly cool, as he said to himself, " Oh, these are they, as sure as guns, for don't I see Finnigan's mark on that fellow in front of me." Then aloud he said :
" Captain, would you be good enough, sir, to turn that iron of yours a little aside, for it might, just by accident, hurt me, if it went off just as you are holding it now."
" Who have you got in the carriage ?" was the reply Jerry got.
" The devil a one, Captain dear. You can look for yourself, sure ; and if it is money you are looking for, this morning, you came, as they say in Ireland, 'to the goat's house for wool,' for the deuce a cent I have got, but just this dollar and a half." And Jerry pulled out three half dollars, and continued: " Mike Kennedy, that owns this team, that keeps the stable, you know, on Third street, gave me this to get my dinner with, and may be a drink or so along the road, so as to pass the time, a sort of like, you know, Captain; but if you and your boys here are a sort of out, not finding any one this morning better than myself, Captain, why you are welcome to this."
The Captain, as he called him, took no notice of his offer. So he continued :
" Oh, I give it freely, and you can take it with a safe con- science. The Lord be praised, for I can borrow from Frosty Joe a bit ahead here. He knows me and Mike Kennedy, so you're welcome to it, Captain, if it's any use to you."
While Jerry had talked on in this way, the men at the side of the carriage had found, sure enough, that. the carriage was empty, as Jerry had said, and looked terribly disappointed. Wild now broke out with:
" Shut up your d-d Irish tongue, and answer all questions truly that I put to you. Did you take us for highway robbers that you offer us that money ?"
" Well, Captain, to answer that question in a polite sort of way, I will just say that you all three look as like the gentlemen you mentioned as two peas do to each other."
" None of your confounded impertinence, I tell you, but just answer my questions. Did yon have any passengers when you
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left Sacramento; and if so, where did they get out ?"
" Get out, did you say ? How could any one get out without first getting in, Captain ? Answer me that, if you please. I told you, Captain, when you first stopped me, just as if you were highwaymen, that the devil a one I had in the hack. If what you are after is to pry into men's business out here, I'll just make a clean breast of it. I am on my way to the Empire Ranch, beyond Marysville a bit, you know, to meet a great friend of Mike Kennedy's; one Captain Ward, and bring him home."
" Captain John Ward !" exclaimed Wild, in surprise, while Mack, who was searching the carriage, gave a start and looked up. Jerry's using the name of Ward was merely an accident; but he now saw the necessity of sticking to it with a bold front, so he promptly said:
" Yes, of course, Captain John Ward; who else would it be ?"
Just then Mack hauled out of the carriage a white handker- chief; and, as all eyes were turned on it, Jerry continued:
" And by the same token, that is Captain Ward's handker- chief. He forgot it when I took him and his friend to the Em- pire Ranch, some time ago, on his way to the upper mines; and I put it in the hack early this morning so as not to forget it. So please, sir, if it is not much use to you, just lay it back, if you please; for I like to be particular about little things, you know; that is the only way a poor fellow the likes of me can make a de- cent living."
Mack kept examining the handkerchief, as if looking for a mark or a name, and, not finding any, he was evidently put out, and exclaimed:
" Damn me ! but I believe this fellow here is the very man that ran away with the girl last night, and that this is the hand- kerchief he had on his hat; for I know that the fellow who took her had something white on his hat, as I had my pistol aimed at it when that devil, whoever he was, hit me such a sledge-hammer blow."
Jerry, who was now leaning back in his seat, as if half-asleep, seemed to make an effort to arouse himself to say:
" I ran away with a girl, is it you're saying ? Faith ! I hope it is true for you; for there is nothing I would like so much as to have a girl run away with me, or I with her; not a bit of differ- ence, so that I was with the girl some way. I have asked every girl I saw since I have been in California to run away with me,
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but they were all bespoke before me. So, the other day, I just wrote a letter to my old mother in Ireland, and told her to ship me one round the Horn, and get the Captain just to sign a bit of a bill of lading like, to deliver her as good as he got her, and that I would meet her on board the ship with the priest and all, and get her made my lawful wife before I took her from the Cap- tain; do you understand ?"
Whenever Jerry dashed off into one of these talks, he plainly saw one of the men taking a side look at him, in which there was a humorous, encouraging expression.
" Oh," said he to himself, " that must be Jim's friend that he called Tom, when he was talking about him to the young lady. Yes ; I see now, and if the worst comes to the worst, we will have three against two."
As he finished about his wife prospects, Wild said, savagely :
" I told you before to shut up your d-d Irish tongue, or I will silence it for you with this revolver. I tell you now, don't speak except when you're asked a question."
" Captain, that is not the way to speak to an American gentle- man. I have got my full papers; so, just say, if you please, ' Your d-d Irish-American tongue,' and that will be addressing me like a gentleman."
At this Tom laughed heartily, while Mack growled out :
" Don't notice the d-d fool. For my part, I think Becket and the girl are near here somewhere. Let us ride back to the timber, and see if there are any tracks leading into it."
All three now turned to go, and Jerry thought he saw a sign from Tom to follow them, so he called out :
" Captain, may I go on; I have a long journey before me, you know ?"
" Don't you stir, or I will follow you and blow the top of your head off !"
" Oh, then, as I can't well spare that just yet, I will stay with you." And, turning his horse, he trotted after them back to the timber, singing as he went, " The Widow Malone," at the top of his voice, taking care while he was singing to examine his re- volver, saying to himself as he finished his song :
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