The Plymouth weekly Democrat. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1860-1869, 1869-08-12

lest rs much as Dan1 or 'Zeh,1: Won /.
say that wouldn't hevb bin gla> I, one III &c,
to catch him slippin'-and rec tzun FOOD
tew but you mout as well 'spect 1in raj
Grant to be 'fraid, as this weepup 10 tell a
lie"
And that one time-what was it?"
asked /.
"Wal, seein' it's yu, stranger, l don't
mind tellin', though | amt SO precious
spry at talkin' on that air subject, swear.
It's good few years now sim happened
on feller who hailed from village on
the Mississippi called Burnt Clearin','
cause of a big fire they'd he'd thar once
on time; and we froze together power
ful, and was just like brothers all at once.
Wharever one went, 'tOther went: what
ever one did, 'tother did; and if this I'm
he'd dollar, that un war good for fifty
cents ont, least thing We went down to
Moo Orleens and up to Philndelphy by
tradin' spec; and tell we, we fotched up
the dollars right smart l saved him from
bein chawed up by a bar that locke
plaguy angshus to make his closer Qus' -
ance; and he saved me from IN, IL
drowned in fiOodtirle, when my roo an,
turned over ag,m snag; oltnGotbsr
strange,yu mou..s hcv TUX us f,,r I1S nay;J anj
Jonathan cu' n alive ap' ~ 'I Rnt "rI aI, d tha
while ina. thar Sar oNe u .ot hanging, in r
sn;les ~ rssn cloud in sumn.r. ths,
war t, Ae icS% of thejhull skty-and tha,
tim Se Fee"Lectlon that my weepun, fust
G .sdk." 'i'' 'e''er nea gin a
A., she cold, clear tone of his voice at these
Isst WORDS, slightly tinged with sorrow.
'an was sucn as compassionate judge might
use III pfonOuncing sentence Of deafb
and to me, guessing as | did what was ao
come, 1t had sound indescribably drearv
and OminOus.
L used to try and laugh myself ont,
nas;,3 rnas ar fancy by ssyin', 'Whateyer's
possible, that amt Why, to THU go ., err
quarrein' 'ud be like man cr,t;nn b;,Ooi. y odt
IN % half and fightn' right and % arEn n'Ise Iet,
But let me talk as like, d' tho ,ss4 ss,h tei.
IN my head like ma; in me neN, ,''G, loo ''ao sn1
tbe Toulan t,,1o ! go away. And At last. stranger
| One wear oan aar, nen II War more'n tRot.
in Kansas, :" ~ in rhe tall, we were down
in n nre. oadit' about in spots, and max
agree >sty Fosable haul; till one day we
| f.: q :H VIE up the profit, and make a
& vision, cause next mOrnin' he war
A sattln off to Burnt Clearin' to see his
Y folks, and l war bound to make tracks for
Boston on some business of my own. WAL
evenin' cum, and a'ter lickerin' up spell,
to lie our brains fur the cipherin', we be-
gan totin' up. But somehow or another,
we couldn't come to a right settlement O.
our two shares, nohow we could fix it :;
and what with the Ticker we'd he'd, and
the worry o. cipherin', we both COM
menced to git rayther savagerous At
last, up he jumps, and hollers out: I'D
hnt f1.t,,. Il 49, L.
i hyur trade if I'd known that my pardner
war nothin but darned mean fiint-shavn'
thief o. Yankee. At them words a
1 shiver ran all through me like them lee
| trio fixins' that book -larned folks tell on,
and my right hand flew out as if somebody
moved it, and fotched him a lick tween
the eyes that brou't him down like pine
in clearin'. (He war fine feller, biggern
me some way, and all the way out
as hard; and, by Jingo! 'twar reg'lar
| pleasure knockin' him dOwn.) Up he
| got lookin' mighty wrathy; and says he:
| It'll take leetle burnt powder to put
away the smell o that air blow-cum ont
into the forest The sun war settn', and
everythin' war dead still, as if waitin' to
see what we'd do. | follered him out
readily 'nuff, for war cool as an icicle,
now know'd the job he'd got to cum
through; but when seen the dyin' light
| streamin down the shadOwy arches Ofthe
forest, and the everlastin' trees stannin'
up tall and grand, and whisperin' with all
their leaves, as if God war speakin'
through them in His own Temple of Natur'
by Hevin, stranger, cum very nigh
feelin as if war p 'raps doin' wrong!
Wall, that air feelin didn't last long,
| reckon. The fust click o. them locks
| (we'd greed to load only three barrels
| each, to save time )-the ftIst click % them
locks war like the smell o roast meat to a
starvin' man; and when toed my mark
at fifteen PAGES, | felt as comfortable as if
I'd bin sittin' fore big fire with a glass
o whisky in my hand. We both cracked
off to once; got scratch on the left
side, and a bit o his sleeve went fyin'
jest below the shoulder Better luck
next time,' says 1 ; and the second load
went off He'd aimed higher this time,
and the pill Skilled my ha'r and knocked
off my hat; but jest in the same moment
| seen him turn half round and go ker-
chunk right ON his face l run in upon
him, like fool, forgettin' that he'd got
one shot left and he hoisted hisself on
his elby and let slap, jest tetchin my thigh
as cum on (his hand. war shaky, YOU
know, or he'd not hev made stitch a bad
shoD; but that war his last card, and then
knOw'd he'd him.
| 'Ole feller,' says /, I've kinder won
the hand this time, thar amt no dodgin'
1t. So, fore yu go under, hev WI any
messidges to leaveg'
Wal, says he, there's gal at Burnt
Clearin' that war pretty bad on last fall
-kezia Harper, next door to the meetin'-
house-guess you mOut gin her this hyur
lOcket, if 'tain't outer yure way.'
She's as good as got it already SAYS
l, putin it in my pouch.
Thar's feller in the next village.
Nathan Hickman, that they used to cali
| Straight-eye Il war to have fought him
this fall yu tell him why can't cum, for
no one didn't Oughter think / war 'fraid.'
Ii the coon says word agin you,'
says l, I'll grease my boots with his liver.
Is thar anything else?'
"'Wal, says he, Il guess that's about
all
"'G Good-by, then, ole feller,' says I;
bless yu! And with that | clapped nv
pistol to his head, and blew it as small as
corn-shucks
Good HeavenT says |, revolted ut this
cold -blooded butchery, "could you not
have spared the mans life, even then?"
Stranger" replied the old slaughterer,
with indescribable dignity" "if you want
to- find critter so cussed mean as to hurt
a mans feelin's by sparin' him a'ter he's
been whipped in a fair fight, guess yu'd
better not come to Cyrus Jehosaphat
Flint! Now, then, / calclate we'd best
be lOOkln a'ter our f1xin's for them's tho