Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1876-11-24

luE lllO SUCH A@uuEuGu IA llAat 4
wished my head wur under the log, or any
where else 'cept on my shoulders; but sOt
up straight, for l knew they'd seen ne, and
| thort it warn't no use to play possum any
longer.
Wal, when I Strengthened up, the Injun
nearest me calls out again:
who's there"
I am here, saysI speakingin their own
language,
Inc mint 1 opened my meat-trap he
laughed and says to the other niggur,
He's a pale faee.''
The reeson ne knowed tbet so ouick vur
bekase L cudn't speak thur burned law
breaking lingo zactly right. Then he tnrn-
ed tO'ard me sgin and said,
"What are you doing thereY'
Sitting down straddle of the small
eend, 4" says l.
When said this they bust into a laugh
or ruther more like sort Of a ehuckle, But
warn't in no laughing humor, Just then.
Then one Of-the niggurs says to his kum-
rade:
Hes pale face; lean dog, sleepin' on
log; we did catch him good" and they
both gave the war whoop.
tell you, young fellow, it made me feel
skeery, for it did seem as If l Wur seoOped,
sure. Then they told the other redskins on
shore to get the canoe and be quick. The
| others answered them and ran down the
shore, laughing, and trying to find the ca
noe. kinder made up my mind that some
thing he'd got to be done mighty quick, and
my dandur began to rise.
''COme here, says one of the Injuns on
the log, beckOning to me. ''Come quick,
before the others come. l want your
scalpr'
Wal, when he sed that, cudn't stand it
no longer. Ny har want going to hang in
no Injun lodge, not eff could help it; so !
thrOwed up my rifle, took aim at the red
niggur and blazed away. He give a veil,
! Jumped up like buck, and fell splash into
the water. As soon as l fired the 1njuns on
the bank screamed out the war whoop, and
the other redskin on the log yelled out to
EN- to come quick and bring his gun.
| jumped up and crawled to him; he gather
/ ed himself up and stood his ground. The
| fust thing knowed he cum down on me
all in a heap, breaking an old limb inter a
dozen pieces over my head and shoulders
lucky for me the limb wur rotten. His
blow staggered me for mint, but soon
rekivered myself, and catching my rife
with both hands, / give him q side-wipC
Will lllb DdI blhb AAAOChGA nm OAA AAlol
the water. As he cum up, grabbed hin
by the har, and as he tried to git on the
log, l Jest held him under water.
Being on the log and he in the river,
ruther had him in a fix, and l Jest kept
bobbing him under. At first the bubbles
come up like Iwur filling bottle with wa
ter. You know when a bottle is full il
won't bubble. Wal, kept on bobbin' hi:
| head under till he wouldn't bubble; then
jedged he wur full Of water, so let hin
| 90, and he went down to the bottom, and
didn't see no more of him.. ..
| was Jest trying to load my rifle when
heerd the Injuns push OF their canoe, AM
the splashing of the water as they paddleC
to'ard me. 'Twur too late to load, and
knowed couldn't killed mOre'n one o
EN- anyway An idee kim into my nOddl
that mayhap 1 mought fool EN- again, so
showed my rife under the log and made i
fast with a piece of "a lsriRt had for I
sling. Then | chucked away my eoon-skil
cap, and crawling clean to the eend Of tn
log, eased myself off inter the water, lesv
ing nothing outer the water 'cept my heal
Thar war small limb sticking out from
the underside of the log, and / Jest KEEP
holt of it with both hands, and never stir
| red a muscle. .
'Twarn't more'n a mint arter got fixel
fore the canoe run aginst the log. Tn
Iniuns looked fur ther kumrades, and call
ed EN- by name; but they didn't find en-
not very much. Then one on EN- got OF
the log and crswled tO'ard the eend whar
wur cached. Soon's he got near me, / sum
altogether and held my breath. Being tn
small eend of the log it began to sink, ant
the redslIin crawled back sgin-fsster'n b
cum.
When he got out Of the way jest throw
ed my head back and put nay month Ou
SOS at l could breathe. didn't mRkstth
least mite CT noise, and 'twur so thRRderiI
dark they couldn't see me; heerd sEa jab
berin' one to another, and one says, tPThe
must have killed him." and another said
''They are all gone. .t.,..I4 --
They wur good deal puzzled, and prei
ty mad, too, reckon; but 'twur no use
they couldn't make nothing out of it; $
arter q while they padded back to tn
shore, and / could hear EN- mOvin up an
down the bank, and calling to each Othel
like they war looking for ther kumrades-
could a told EN- whar to look BOE the durr
ed nigeurs; but 'twan't none Of ERF hI1f
raj, so crawled up onter the log sgin an
foated away quite comfortsbul like.
| a HUIle dFJef SuhuP bHS cuErouI ASi
the log on pint stickin out into the rive
jest wher the Big Horn emptiss inter i
Thar landed, mighty stiff and eIsmped,
kin tell We, but hevin' my skelp all rgh
and two more hicks for the stock OF the Ol
shoOtin- -iron.'' --.l
koncluded hedn't no more business
that air kentry jest then, so l jest leggt
it for Fort BerthOlet, and got in thar
about ten days, safe and sound. Bout tW
months later ] went back up the Yale
stun with "LJOng Bill-you know hin
young feller. lie wur young traps
} them DAYS, and we found my traps an
peltries ali safe jest Bhar cached EN-; s.
We see. 1 didn't lose much by the operation
} And now we've heerd the yarn out, ] recko
we'd better turn in, if we spsct to git art,
them butler termOrrer!