The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1874-08-08

L never lHlStfuSleu hin DHJ once, ana
that war down in Australey, when | war
gold diggin up Turon way. Two fell
lers came to my tent one night, cause
they'd hearn as I'd heap o gold thar,
and they thought o being SO kind as TO
relieve me o the 'sponsibility o guard
in it. [ hearn 'em creepin in, and o.
course the fust thing | did was to slap
all six barrels into 'em, jest to give 'em
a hint not to call alter visitin' hours.
| heard screech, and then Il pattin' o
feet runnin' away; but it war few dark
to see anythin', and all the rest o that
night my feelins ain to be 'scribed, no.
| how"
"Ah, yon were afraid you had killed
one ?" said /, pleased ut this touch of
humanity. ..
CHILLED why, darn it, stranger, dye
want to insult me No, by lingo |
war 'fraid ia missed one on EN- and
to hev my own revolver miss at close
range, after bein' true to me for so
many years, war mOren ] could bear :"
CThe pathos with which he said this
was indescribable) Il felt pertic'ler
cheap all that night, SO | tell ye you
mout hev bought me for cent any
time fore mornin'. But as soon rs 1t
war light | cum out, and thar / seen one
Teller lynn dead beside the tent door,
and track o. blood long whar t'other
had run off, jest like j strick O molas-
ses cross buckwhea1 cake; and says
i, Thank Heaven, I've 'em both 7, and
the weight that war took off my mind
7 in that air moment-stranger thar ain /
no 'scribin' it =
The real feryer Of his tone as he ut
tered the last sentence, with all the air
, of q good man whose conscience had
Just been relieved OF some overwhelm-
ing burden, cannot be conveyed in
words.
81 dare say you'd hardly guess now,
stranger, that [ fust saw this revolver
in vision; but | did, though, stare vs.
much as you like and the way it hap
pened war jest so. Father had been
dead bout q month when ] cum in late
one night from fixing rail fence that
one of our oxen had smashed; and a ter
| sot by the fire a spell, and done toll
cradle stroke o supper, began to feel
little drowsy. | warn't not to say
asleep, but just as ii you'd spoke to
me sudden, I'd hev thought a minute
fore ] answered-whcn, all at once, |
seen father standing right fore me,
with his big straw hat o one side
and his high boots, and striped shirt
sleeves, and his hands in his pockets
chat war the only ghost-like thing
bout him, for while he war alive they
war mostly in some one else's), and he
says to me, he says: 'Cy, my boy (my
names Cyrus Jehosaphat Flint,
lot, / al, oh
'Cy, my boy, I've cum back from the
p'raps be none the wuss o KNOWN. |
didn't leave You much, says he,
cause you are safe to go long single
handed, whereas them two brothers and
five sisters of yourn will kinder need
| proppin' up some fore they kin stand
themselves. Now you jest listen to
me. Tomorrow moT1in the very fust
thing, you get up and job open the
back OF that old cupboard in the cor
ner, jest Dove the top shelf, and thar
{ you'll find revolver, the best You ever
, fingered; and may heaven bless it to
your Use. And now Eneel down and
receive my blessin was lest agwine
to DO 1t, when all at once [ slipped off
my chair and cum the all firedest lick
with my nose agin the fender as ever |
seen; and when ! TO agin thar
warns nobody there. Wal, cuss 1t,
says |, Though that air language ain t
quite proper for member Of the
church, j nope next time father comes
from t'other world he'll contrive to DO
it at unreasonable hour, stead OF sheWin'
up a ter bedtime and making his own
flesh and blood brake his nose in this
ere fashion. But for all that, / didn't
forget what he said, and the fust thing
: next morniu' | up and into the kitchen
and out with the back o the cupboard,
and thar lay the revolver, as sure as
ever any thing war in the world. And
now, stranger, if you don't believe that
air story, here is the IDENTICAL revolver,
and you can't go agin that no how"
Against such confirmatory evidence
it would have been useless to argue ;
and | readily ass nted, only returning
to enquire into the mystery Of the sin
gularly arranged studs on the stOc', Of
the pistol.
"Well, stranger, returned my com
paniOn, ''yu wouldn' guess the trick Of
them studs in hurry, so III tell yu.
Each Of them air studs on that revolver
SbilliiS 1OI llit me " u IlldiI tiIttb lllII
and me have clared Off There's eleven
on EN- altogether, and / reckon that's q
pretty toll able stroke o work for one
man and one weepun."
Used rs / am to extraordinary conf
dences, this cool, centstatement,
fairly staggered me for the moment.
Good Heavens" | gasped, do you
mean to tell me that you have murdered
eleven menu
"No stranger, replied he slowly and
sententiously, you have got into the
wrong ferryboat in making that air
: statement. ] mean tn tell yu that I've
found it necessary at different periods
of my life to rub out eleven human
critters who mout otherwise hey offered
the same civility to me, and | calc late
yu don't call that murderin' ? Thars
one wantin' yet to complete the dozen,
as you see; but added he, cheerfully.
that won't be long a-comin', Iguess
"The old cannibal p said | mentally,
che talks of killing people as if he
were only collecting photographs. Pray
heaven he may not take IT into his head
! to add me to his museum y
"Thars one vantage I've got with
this weepun," pursued the Yankee, q
kin always tell at first sight o man
whether I'm gwyne to kill him some
day or not"
FLOWS that?" asked ], not without
a secret shudder and q slight anxiety as
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