The Osceola times., 1880-04-17
THE ODD EGG.
rhs danger of Having Thirteen 10 . Dozen.
n Y krOury

N. Y. Nrssry.
He was rather tall and honey, anC
showed a heavy, dragging limp in thu
rioht leg as he sidled up to the bar. Hi
clothes had worn smooth on the cuff
ond collar and were disposed to ventilatt
Of the elbow, but were still sufficient Il
been out ordinary cold weather. With
a not uncraceful movement, and sleigh
that could only come of long practice, he
aot a well-chewed quid into his left nanc
which he placed behind him, leaning for
ward with his right elbow upon the
ar.
"Egc-nogg? no, thank you. Jest 6
leetle whiskey straight, barkeep', nc
suear. know its liable to occasion re-
mark shyin' at egg-nogg--so near the
holiday season, too-and its very kind
and perlite in you, stranger, calling on
me to come for'ard here with these gen.
tlemen-an' egg-nogg bein' the drink Of
the crowd-it's not the do-se-do to refuse
but the truth is hain't ct egg or tack.
led any fruit of that description for goin
on six years. Sing'lar, you think? Well
I've got my reasons. Praps you never
knowed Dave Gilchrst? No? Well, me
an Dave was OF pards. We was both
in the same regiment in the last war.
Pm older'n Dave. He was only boy
when he was shot through the lungs at
Stone River. Well, l nussed him
through it, an after the war we both
come here to Indiany. / never was
much account for farmin', but | went to
work on Dawes fathers farm.
"Dave was a mighty good-lookin'
Young teller, and his father owned a
1uarter-section of as good land as the
sun ever shines on, with just two heirs,
Dave and his sister Artemesia-'M Meeshy
or Shorthand the gals began to purr
round him like cats round a cream
crock. | soon saw he was hooked, an
by grass widder who hadn't been in
the neighborhood but few weeks. She
hadn't seen me, but had seen her, and
knowed her from the jump. Well,
tried to reason with him to give her up.
She knowed every keerd in the matri-
monial deck, as it were, and she could
stock the deal on him every time. Then
says l to him:
"'You don't want to marry a woman
with husband liable to turn up at any
minute lik Enick Arden in the play
What's that to your says he.
"'Much,' SAYS /, I've been married
Hn ulNOICtu, All huO" tiit icpNcf
"Well it was purity tough for him, but
he said he'd give her up, but he couldn't
stay there, he said.
"'Got to get her out of my mind, some
how, and the best way is to put a thou
sand miles between me and her, says
he.
"I've got brother says l, thinkin'
of him all at nst-hadn'tthought afore
r L u, Lrnt II,
Washington Territory, steady feller
not bit like me, and If you say the
word, Dave, your old pard as recon.
mends the vermifuge will help you take
it.
so we packed up our traps one night
very sudden, an Dave left letter to his
sister Meeshy, an | writ one to the wild.
der. We intended to go California, and
from there to Washington Territory, but
when we got to Frisco we changed our
minds and went down to Arisony and
went into the mines. Well, we went
there and were gettin' along pretty well,
when Dave took down with the rumatiz.
Stranger you don't know what the square
John Henry rumatiz is, and you never
will ull you git it in the mines. Dave
poked along for several manths-couldn't
work, couldn't even wait on himself an
the money we had began to melt away.
knowed he'd never get well there. So
one day | up and tells him.
"I'm goin' to California
"At this he moans out that he'd never
thought I'd gave him the dirty shake
that-a-way, afther the years we'd been
together an broke down cryin' like a
baby. Dave was a game boy, you betcher
boots, bur when we get weak and low,
stranger, sometimes the best of us'll
squeal.
"'You Jest turn off that hydrant,' says
l; we're both goin' together.
"'But can't walk, says Dave.
What's the DIFF says |, you can ride
an here's y'r mule. You'll go if have
to carry you every step of the way
$50 off we starts. Well. we got to Los
Angeles, on the coast, in four weeks, an
it was no time at all after that Dave be-
gun to pick up. Then we went up to
Frisco, the boy still improvin', an from
there we worked our way to Fort Klam-
ath, in southwestern Oregon. Then /
told Dave we'd rasseled round long
enough; that | was goin' to see my
brother, who lived in Washington Ter
ritory, about twenty miles from Walla
Walia. Dave had got tolerable hearty
but do YOU suppose he'd stopped frettin'
about that widder? Not bit-he still
had her on the brain bigger'n a straw
stack. Now and then, when he'd get
blue, he'd give me the wire edge of his
tongue for havin' drug him away from
Indiany. But we started for Walla
Walla cat-a-corner across Oregon, an
follerin' the trail clean four hundred
mile. We walked it ALL every step of
the way. | had to carry most of the
traps myself, for Dave was weak in the
chest, and had to go hight. Dave had on
PAIR of moccasins; | had a heavy pair
of boots. Dave carried the revolver
carried the doble-barreled shotgun an
the other traps. Purity soon his moccas-
ins cut to pieces, an l gave him my
boots, which made it eaiser for him.
That's mighty lonesome trail from
klamath to Walla Walla, and people are
sprinkled over it about as thick as gold
nuggits is here. We didn't have much
money, and sometimes weretwo or three
days together without food. Then we'd
take up a notch or two in our belts, to
reef in our stomachs to suit the supply
of grub, and go ahead. One day we'd
jist crossed the Oregon line, an was
nearin' Wa'la Walla, when we see thin
curl of smoke risin' above the tim
Der. / knowed from the wind in it that
the smoke didn't come from any open
fire, but came through a chimney. an
We soon sighted a cabin in the clearin.
Then up flies big, yaller rooster an
gives a how-de-do that put more strange
felhn's in me than I'd he'd for long