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Show THE STAGE RIDE. 195 and a yellow, cotton handkerchief tied about his neck. In the leather strap around his waist hung a raw-hide lariat, which he said was useful in more ways than one. If he ran out of provision he made "lariat soup" for dinner, drew it through his mouth for supper, and chewed it for breakfast. The buxom mountain lass at his side, whose dress was a bewildering combination also, tucked her head to one side and said, "Why, Jack, what a whopper!" "How long have you been in this country, driver?" I ventured to inquire. " Oh! I've been driving over these mountains, off and on, for over twenty years." "I expect you have had many adventures?" "You bet," he said. I told him that I was gathering Colorado stories, with the intention of writing a book, and asked him to relate an adventure. He meditated awhile and said: " I was driving a stage in the San Juan country several years ago, and among the miners at a little town called S , where I always stopped for the night, was a young man named Robert L . We called him Bob, because we liked him. He was an honest, hard-working chap, and as handsome a fellow as ever trod sole leather. One day Bob struck it rich, and with his face all beaming he told me he intended to start back home on my coach the next morning, to marry the girl he had been engaged to for seven years. ,' I have served like Jacob of old,' he said,' and I am at last to be rewarded. The old man objected because I was poor, but now I have made my little " pile," and the hours don't go fast enough. I would like to fly to her, for during all the long, weary years she has |
