Norfleet: the actual experiences of a Texas rancher's 30,000-mile transcontinental chase after five confidence men. Page: 347 of 369
4 p. l., 344 p. front., plates, ports. 22 cm.View a full description of this book.
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NORFLEET
319
This time my fagged nerves would not respond.
Fright seized me. I scooped up a pinch of tobacco
from a cigarette stub lying on the white enamel bowl.
I tipped my head back and crumbled the brown flakes
into my eyes.
In an instant I thought my head had hit the ceiling!
Water gushed from both eyes and daggers pinned my
quivering eye-balls to the back of my head.
I was awake!
At five o'clock I got up from my cot and began
pacing back and forth.
When one of the boys went to bed he always opened
his traveling bag and set it at the head of the bed. I
saw they kept a small artillery in their bags, laid out
ready for business. All they would have to do would
be to stretch out a hand and pull any number of loaded
guns from the open case.
This worried me, as the head of Davis' bed was in
direct line with the hall door and the opened case between
the head of the bed and the door. Therefore
Davis could get a shot at anyone entering from the hall
before he could get entirely into the room.
Next to the bag was a good-sized rocking chair.
I fussed around the room for a few minutes until
the coming dawn made it light enough to see my way
without stumbling over the furniture, then tiptoed to
the bag beside Davis' bed and with my foot started to
push it stealthily under the bed.
This would confuse him when he made a grab for
his gun and would give the drop to the other fellow.
As the bag slid on the soft carpet, Davis stirred
under the bed clothes and opened one eye.
I deliberately rammed my toe against the sharp end
of the rocker and leaped into the air on one foot, yelping
with pain. I grabbed the chair and with well chosen
expressions of pain, set it down directly over the open
bag. I did it in such a way that when the chair came
to rest its back was tipped against the bed, and Davis'
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Norfleet, J. Frank, 1864-. Norfleet: the actual experiences of a Texas rancher's 30,000-mile transcontinental chase after five confidence men., book, 1924; Ft. Worth, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth5864/m1/347/: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .