Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1868-06-13
05io Statel'sssiullIllall') 81 81 I ! n. |!
THE TRAPPER'S CoURTsHIp.
BY J. B. JoULE.

The TRAPPER'S C0URTSHIP
or .i-vW .ssa ------ hu}t ~ Esff1IIr
iLa baa sBY J. B. JoULE. sej qf 1a
"Look yer, old hoss!" observed Josl
Wilkins, placing his hand on my shoul
der and looking me hard in the face, a,
we were trudging through the wood.
and making the best of our way toward
a rancho, situated about five miles aheat
Of us on the banks of Yaukton, whithe,
we were bound on a fishing excursion
"these fall rains will swell our creek 8
bit, and food the countries for miles
around and l do opinionate that ifwedon't
move on triAe quicker we may find
out to our cost that it amt pleasant tc
be caught in allow eountry."8 bsyieq
bnaYou do not think. Josh,"JaI replied
"that the creek will have swollen enough
to prevent our travelling on this route,
with only six hours rain9'' oi--s-i
six hours rain itself, my green 'uin
don't signify cuss; but if you had your
/ eye open, and put your reasoning screw
on little, you would hardly have axed
me such question. just two hours ago
we were out in the open, and at the far
end of it, you saw, if you used your eyes,
"a ridge of mountains. Wall, on every
hill side there is a. stream, and the chan
ces are that it has been rather damper up
among the clouds. that gather round their
submits than upon the prairie or amongst
this timber, which grows 50 thick for the
payt futo p,i1aSotb ~ "a X .l.Qc ~ L
for squirrel to find his way past the
trees if a merciful Providence had not
given him the power of Jumping from
branch to branch. Then agin, thar's the
Luton creek if that is up,we shall have
to go ten or twelve miles round fore we
can cross it, or else pray, like the Irish
man did, to be put on the other side"
"What did the Irishman do, Josh2" /
Inquired. as GgD aip'.-as,T
"Made an everlasting fool of himself"
Josh answered.
"As far as can rocollect, he fell down
on his knees by the side of the stream
and says, eOh, Lor! thou knowest that 1
am not in the habit of troubling thee very
often. Therefore, hear me now! Ifthou
wilt only put me on the other side of
this stream, dash my buttons if I'll
bother the agin'" s.r-.-...-- -.-4
Josh relaxed into silence after this,
and we tramped on through the woods,
crossed the Luton creek by wading up
to our necks in water, and arrived at the
rancho just as darkness was setting in.
1t was rather annoying, however, to dis
cover that all the inmates were absent,
and the door secured by good stiff locks
and bolts. 1t was clear that they had
all gone. down to the military station,
about one hundred miles south of where
we then were, on one of their regular
quarterly trips, with cattle, grain, fruit
and dairy produce, which articles found
ready sale among the officers at the
fort. But locks and bars were never made
strong enough to keep Josh Wilkins out
Of any house he reall y intended to enter.
So, after some little trouble, we managed
to force an entrance, light fire in the
stove, and, finding some meal, picked
pork and other rations, we were soon
seated around rude deal table partak-
ing OF substantial repast. +,
Plenty of good thick rugs were lying
about the room, that we had every
reason to be satisfied with our quarters,
and at the prospect of obtaining n sound
sleep under cover of a roof, a luxury we
had not enjoyed for ten days previously.
1t was not, therefore, to be surprised at,
that we felt particularly comfortable, as
we sat aaound the stove after supper,
and listened to the constant pelting of
the rain as itafell upon the wooden root,
and beat with violence against the one
small window of ourilog house. Under
the soothing influence of the generous
weed we remained in silence for long
time, both of us engaged in thoughts
very different from each others. l was
over the wild, wandering kind
Of life that had been leading for some
months past, securing the plains with
my companions in search Of anything
that afforded mark worthy of powder
and shot, and wondering if it was ever
possible that I should be content among
civilized people again, while my friend
Josh was occupied with thoughts which
led to description Of the incident mar
rated below. -iize sd
"If old Hawkine, of this rancho, is
camping out tew-night, 1 reckon that it
will sicken his gals of going up to see
the soldiers observed Josh, at the
same time stopping to relight his pipe.
What the deuce is it, my cuss, that
makes females spooney, on those stiff
backed, brass-buckled and leather-belt-
ed coons? 1t kind of riles me whenever
[ think ont" gab uE eo
"Why, JOSH" 1 remarked, some would
nave thought that you were about. the
asst fellow in the world to get your mon
Key up at anything woman would say
,r do" r. .l--.9f1o
"Thunder!" replied Josh, 81 reckon 1
nave as much right to think of women
as, any other man."
$50 you have" I answered, "but still
would not have thought that you ever
troubled your head about them.''
"There you air wrong, my old coon,"
he replied. "There was once a time
when was tarnation soft on one woman
zind-one of those critters that never
1ughter have come out into such coun-
;ry as this. but have lived in Washing
,on and been taken in tow by a senator,
oarson, grocery-keeper, or some such
SWELL" s.-
"And you say that she lived out there?"
remarked trying to lead my friend
IN. r.
"You are quite right" he said. @This
storm reminds me of her. Whenever l
I'm under cover and hear the wind whis-
ling round the house and the rain beat
ng down upon the shingles, always
;hink of one partiklar night. Can't for
get it! 1t happened almost twenty