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Home My WebLink AboutZurich Herald, 1943-08-26, Page 3Make the most of yourTea. NUN JACKASS MAIL AcNapted from the Metro - Goldwyn - Mayer Picture by HALSEY RAINES SYNOPSIS A quick -shooting, slow -thinking Nevadan of 1850 is "Just" Bag - got, who is saved from lynching Ilay Miguel O'Sullivan, a barman, when the owner of a stolen horse catches up. O'Sullivan suggests they rob the Jackass Mail. Bag - got disarms O'Sullivan, deter- mined to reap the spoils alone. Red Gargan, an outlaw, gets ahead of him, holding up the mail and killing the driver. Baggot then fires at Gargan, who flees, and rides along with Clementine Tucker, owner of the mail. CHAPTER. TWO Trying to get Clementine to give some hint of whether slie was in fact carrying a shipment of gold on the mule trek, Baggot found himself getting exactly no- where. He even cast out a feeler ,about marriage, and sharing • each other's resources. Finally, as they paused to eat, making a rinall campfire, he decided to take drastic action. "What name do you use with Baggot, anyhow?" Clementine was asking. "That's all—just Baggot," was the answer. "I wouldn't tell this to nobody but you, ma'am, but my first name's Marmaduke !" "Where'd you dig that up—out of a seed catalogue?" Clementine risked. "Naw," said Baggot. "Goes back to the Marmadukes of Scot- land." He had crossed, as if casu- ally, to the rear of the wagon. There hepicked up a short end of rope that he had spied before. Coming back behind Clementine, he suddenly seized her, whirled her about and bound her pinioned wrists with the cord, disregarding "Now, take it easy, nza tin►, -- said. "I ain't gonna hurt you." "Just what are you aimin' to do?" asked Clementine grimly. "Well, you see, ma'am," went on Baggot, "a feller's gotta figger to put somep'n by fer his old age—" - "You found out about the gold we wuz carryin', did you?" cut in Clementine. "And you're aimin' to leave me hogt'e d here — just when everythin' was lookin' so good too!" "What's that, ma'am?" asked Baggot, pausing as he hitched the mules. "Oh, I been thinkin"'bout what you said about two people goin' away somewhere, like China," said Clementine, in her coyest manner. "But I guess it's no use taikin' 'bout that now." "Shucks," said Baggot, turning. "A fine woman like you wouldn't go runnin' off with no gold claim jumper like m e !" "S'pose I said all you gotta do is untie these here ropes and lead the way?" countered Clem- entine, "D'ye mean it?" said Baggot eagerly. Hesitating a moment, he unbound her wrists. "We'll sure do some high rollin' on that gold, ma'am!" he added. * * * Clementine studied him. "Well," she replied, "now you're a win- ner, ain'tcha gonna pick up your profits?" Baggot, after some thought, got the idea and edged closer. , "You mean, sorta grab myself a little kiss?" he grinned. When he came to her side, Cle- mentine made a panther -like movement. Seizing his revolver, she spun back• and aimed at him. "Now, you web-footed, foul- smellin' varmint," she cried, "you showed your hand fer nothin' 1 They ain't no gold in that wag gin!" Baggot was dumbfounded, both by the dexterity of his antagon- ist and her last statement. "Huh?" he gaped. "I turned it all in at the bank in• Sacramento," said Clementine triumphantly. "An' jest in time too. Glory be fer that!" Baggot's grin now was a labored one. "'Cept I knew they wasn't no goldthere all the time!" he said. "Sure you did!" cried Clemen- tine scornfully. "Now you start down the road, you bow-legged alligator, or I'll shoot you ou: of your no-good hide!" "But, ma'am," protested Bag - got, "you wouldn't turn a feller loose in this here wild forest with- out no gun or nothin'. I'll be clawed up by mountain lions or grizzly bears!" "Animals has more sense than to make theirselves sick on any meal like you," retorted Clemen- tine. "Git movin' !" Baggot had gone only about twenty yards, however, when she seemed to be seized by another feeling. "Hey, come back!" she cried. "Get up here an' drive. An' don't we hit Gold Camp. Pllmakeen honest man out o' you if I have to blast your head off, by Davy!" * * * The miners who had inspected Clementine's choice of mail driv- er, to replace the late' Hickory Jake, shook their heads skepti- cally. The newcomer looked pretty shiftless to them. There was still another Baggot liability that even Clementine didn't know about, until they were out deliv- ering mail one morning. "I've got a package for Red Gargan," said Clementine. "Get it out of the bag!" Baggot fumbled about, brought out several packages. Finally be selected one. "Them Irish names is kinda hard to make out," he said. "Here she is." Reaching out suspiciously, Cle- mentine grabbed the package. "So that's for Red Gargan, is it?" she cried. "Well, the name on it is Bill Baker! I'd like to know how you espect to handle any mail CROCHETED SHAKO WORKED IN SHELL STITCH A smart looking acid comfortable crocheted hat, which is ll a doves. tion front the popular "beanie is the Shako P done in, It is an easy crochet job. Pattern No. coin 11tcontidns list ss f materials needed, illustration of stitches and p twithion your uanie To order patterns Write or send above picture and address with 15 emits in conn or stamps to Carol Mines, Room 421, 73 Adelaide St. West, Toronto. route when you can't even read a,. line!" Baggot, shuffling up the steps to deliver the parcel, mumbled something about picking up a new pair of spectacles in Sacramento City on his next trip there. Cle- mentine wasn't in the least de- ceived. The bright-eyed, freckled lad who oame to the door said that his name was Tommie Gargan, and that Red Gargan wasn't at. home, He betrayed great excitement as he saw the package. His father, he said, had ordered a watch from Chicago, months ago. This might be it. Baggot had been instructed by Clementine to collect seven dollars before leaving the pack- age—in those days the impromptu mail deliveries were run on a per- sonal collection . basis—but Tom- mie's wistful face chaeged Bag- • got's point of view. .Impulsively he took off the wrapping of the, package; a huge watch was in- side. As Tommie's eyes bulged, Baggot turned it over to him, and said he would collect the money from Red when he saw him. Clementine's eyes glimmered as. she heard Baggot's fumbling re- port of how he had decided to leave the watch with the boy. She had been right, she calculated, in. her estimate that there was some- thing else to Baggot besides a covetousness for gold and a quick finger on the gun. * * * Tommie was playing with his newly arrived treasure when his father came back. He displayed the watch proudly, and told Red that a fellow named Baggot, the new mail carrier, brought it. "Baggot?" echoed Gargan. He had checked on the name of the man who had shot him as he was consummating the successful mail hold-up. At the same time, he knew he must be guarded in his conversation. Tommie must never know what his actual business was. "They got Hickory Jake," went on Tommie, in a plaintive voice. "One of them hold-up fellers." He paused. "Baggot says he winged him but he got away." "I see," said Gargan, between clenched teeth. In a moment he pleaded having forgotten an er- rand, and slipped away from the yard with Jim Swade, his sinister - looking companion. "Look here," Swade said angri- ly. "You said you all talked Miss Tucker into lettin' you handle the mail." "I did," nodded Gargan. An unpleasant light came into his eyes and he went on: "She said if Hickory Jake ever got too old for - eee „ he'M`?asa�`rara�a�,y+�"t "Well he did :