The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1862-02-20
Picking slp "a Pocket Book.
s Story OF Adventures ON the Plains.
From Dickens Christmas Stories for 1861.
(coECLUDED.)

Larrup your beast, colonel cried the rider
we're woful behind Don't be stingy with The
spur.iron, for that bride does allays shirk wheI
he can. Mind-'ware the sappy ground, where
You see them chubby MOSES! Lordon They e
take horse up to the girts, and there you'c
stop, like freed coon. Push on, sir. Rattle
him across them riv'lets; not that parara boss
eau jump like the critters from the United
States
1t struck me that 'Demus Blake wac bawline
and foggng in this excited way for no Other
purpose than to quiet his own nerves, anC
drown care. WAS confirmed in this view by
the fact that, after six or seven miles had beer
swallowed up by the rapid career of our foam
fecked steeds, the rider refined his horse into
a steady hand gallop.
"There, mister, said he, 'we1l go quiet now.
feels kinder easier under my left ribs. Tell'ee
colonel little as you think it, to look at such as
me, was a nea rmaking the biggest baby Of
myself-the1e was Poor boy Shem l know
ed him, sir uncommon well, and uncommon
long. We played about together, when We
were AS high as q ramrod, in Pequottie village,
nigh to Utica, in old Kentucky. And when
old Amcs and my daddy, Jonathan Blake, cal
culated to move west. they chose the same To-
cation. Sad news for old Amos-a whlte-haired
old chap now, but pretty tough, too. He's at
Browns Hole-no. at Round Pond-trading for
peltry. / wouldn't care to have the tellin' on
him.
The rider was silent for good while after
this. He did not speak again till l paid meri-
ted tribute to Shem's courage l had found
him, said, fronting seven Indians like stag
at bay. The frontiers man eye glittered
proudly.
"A brave boy, sir. was with him, first fight
that is, Shem's first. cause I'm two year all
older man. 'Twarnt hereaway South ofFre-
mont's Pass it wur, and bloody blackfoot In
dams war the lnimy, three to one, only they'd
no firearms 'Twarn't chld's play that day,
mister = The backwoods man expanded his broad
chest, while his nostrils dilated, and his lips
| t.ghtened, as he recalled the arduous struggle
long past.
He WAS a much stronger man than Shem, of
a spirit less gay and lightsOme, but not without
a certain amount of rude practical poetry in his
disposition. He knew ShemS sweetheart
very nice-looking girl, of rather quiet subdued
and pIouS nature Not too common on the bor-
der, nuther where even gals mostly has spice
of the wild cat, but, mebbe, that pleased Shem.'
OF the distress in store for old Amos Grind
rod hunter, once renowned for his prowess
and skill, whether in warfare or the chase ; -
Blake spoke feehngly and with deep convic-
| ton.
Twill shorten the old mans days, sir, but
it's lucky the old woman's not alive to hear it;
she was that tender of Shem, if his finger ached
she'd flutter like a robbed hen. Good old soul
she was Mrs Grindrod, and nursed my old
mother when she took the fever IN that murder
in swamp
Honest 'Demus had too much innate good
breeding to be lnquisitive as to the purport of
my unusual journey. In this respect, as in some
others, he far surpassed in tact and politeuess
many an accomplished citizen in vanished
! boots and satin vest Bat he offered me some
wemrant advice.
! Take it cody, said he, and dom. furry your
sell. colonel You've got more coler in your
checks than need be, and your hand was as hot
when l shook it, a. bit of deermea toastin'
over the FIRE. | don't know az you amt right,
sinking ihe whiskey, though It's food and COM
/ tort TO such as ME. But a smart touch ofieveF
would tie you by the leg. stranger, so don't fret
( overly, and sleep all you can. As for Injuhs,
they II hardly trouble taco white men when there's
nouthin' to be got but Ripple of nags that can
be bought for a cast of the lasso, Or iariat The
emlgrant trains is different, for the Red devils
scent plumber in the wagons, and only the dra
goons sIear 'em. Twar spite med the Mad But.
lalo fall on Shem Grindrod ahem give him
coat O. tar and turkey feathers one night, at
Bridger Fort, when the Injun got so drunk
with whiskey come rascal sold him, he lay like
a hog on the ground. They never forgive, them
| lljuns Shoshonies have no pity, compared to
the savages east ofthe Rocky Mountains Keep
lookout for outlying war parties, mister, when
you get to the mountain parks. Crows will take
boss and clothes; Blackteet alays banker after
hair
! l took my guides well meant advice, and
endeayored to get through the journey as phleg-
matically as might be. | snatched every OPP
portunity of repose, if only for few minutes,
while the reeking saddles were being shifted to
| the backs of fresh horses; and 1t is wonderful
| how much reh eshment / at times derived from
nap SO brief as not much 10 exceed the tradi-
tional forty wings More than once, my com
panion said to me, Colonel, you re about drop
ping with sleep. Shut your eyes, if you like,
and give me your reins. III guide both horses,
and you can't hardly roll out O. that cradle O
yourne' And, indeed the deep Mexican saddle
! of demipiquie cut, which had luckily provided
on starting admirably adapted, with its
| lofty pommel and cantie, to the use of doing
equestrian, Curious spells of slumber those
were, when my head would nod like that of
porcelain mandaran and my eyelids dioOp as If
weighed with lead, and when, after few min
utes, l \ ould start up, broad awake, as my mus
tang stumbled over broken ground. Once-it
was while Demus Blake was still with mel
had long and most delicious period of slumber
uninterrupted by jerks or conclusions and when
| awoke, quite a new man, and revived to An
extent at which l now wonder, found myself
supported by the strong patient arm ofmy con
ductor, who had been galopiug by my side for
miles, managing both brides with his disengag-
ed hand i thought / would fresh you up, col
onel 1 said the brave fellow.
Not all my mentors throughout that phantom
ride across prairie Gland were frank as Blake,
nor as merry Shem. But the mailbag riders
turned oul good fellows in NIL main points, and
and / can safely say that found but two or
three suIy or ill-Eatured persons among all these
who garIsoned the block-houses while fortu-
nately il fell to my lot on no occasion to be ac-
companied by one of these. In the prairie, as
III the world at large, found good feeling the
rule, cynicism Or malice the exception, though
| | am bound to say that the Unconditional in
dividuas made twice as much noise and stir as
their more amiable mates. The first start had
been difficult, but at each succeeding station /
received my rem cunt without much delay or
parley. The privilege of the post was conced-
ed to me, while was always welcome 20
share of the rationE IN each little community.
On the whole, found the men cheerful in their
strange isolation. They were literally paid.and
not lifted. AMI they looked forward to a pension
in the event of becoming crippled by some In
dian haichet-stroke or arrow shot. Planted in
the wilderness, with the prospect of being pres
emily encOmpassed by deep drifts of snow, over
whose fruz-n surface tile wolves would come to
howl and scratch at their deep doors, like dogs
seeking admittance, they were in fair spirits and
undismafed. Their habltual talk was OF the
wild adventures that formed the every day life
Of that frontier OF Cnristendom; of Indian strata
gems AID cruelty, of panthers and Grizzlies
prong horns and bufaoes Several of them had
consorled tamiliarly with the painted tribes of
the desert, and spoke sundry Indian dialects as
fuentIy as their mother tongue. found these
hardy men kind hosts enough they would hush
their talk, not 10 disturb me as lay down on a.
heap of skins and blankets, to sleep. while the
guide saddled the horses; and they soon ceased
to rdcue my apparently capricous refusal of
whiskey. 'Mebbe the colonel's right Colo
mel is the Western title OF courtesy they would
say i'll their blunt poteness. Once found the
inmates Of station, built on swampy ground,
quite PROSTATE and helpless with fever. The
fever had abated when the healthy norther be-
gan blow, but the poor fellows were cramped