The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1882-11-30
"Were you bad scared, Uncle Bill. y

"Were you bad scared, Uncle Bill, "
asked one of the boys.
wall, / might hev been, but didn t
have much time to scare much just then.
I remember about my har feelin' kind of
curis, and put my hand up to find what
war the matter, and it war stickin' cut
stiff seven ways for SUNDAY. lbout
give up Twin any longer in this world,
when thought struck me; might find
a crevice or hole in the rocks big enough
to hide in, and tell you, boys,l waren't
long in lookin' fur it. scrambled down
fast,r Los chail ell thunder, sometimes
heels over head. got plenty of bumps
and bruises, but l didn't think of them
then; hedn't much time fur swappin
horses, but look as sharp as could,
there didn't seem to be any place that
would shelter me from the hoofs of the
tarnsl buffers, when Ill to onst
tumbled inter crevice under the side
of a shelvin' rock! had no time to
examine the place to see if it would
do, for here come the onery brutes,
helter-skelter, rumblety bum, tum-
bin, jumpin', rollin', 1 only wonder
that / warn't made deaf for life-the
noise couldn't a been much worse if
hevin and earth war comm together
with clash, and not q single butler
touched me, but they nearly kivered me
up in dirt and stones. How long they
war all passin' over 1 don't know, but
it seemed to be hull hour; but they
war all over at last, and war about to
dig myself out when 1 hearn loud
latin and a whoopin' on the bank above
me. I we'll knowed what it meant; it
war the mean, pesky Pawnees that he'd
impeded the buffers, and drove them
down the steep, rocky bank. This war
an old trick of the lazy cusses to get
plenty of meat without the expense of
powder and lead. And one thing I
knowed. l warnt any safer with them
than war with the buffers, if they once
got sight of my topknot. 1 thought of
the old sayin' that troubles never come
single, and concluded that it war nv
safest plan to lay etill. Down tho
bank IL ey came, and l could see the
shadders of some of them as they passed
me-but soon they war out of hearin.
My bed warnt very comfortable, and my
cuts and bruises began to hurt. I
squirmed and twisted till got out from
under the rocks and dirt that the buff
fiers he'd Knocked over me, and raised
my head high enough to look out, and
see what was going on. About humid
red and fifty yards under me war the
foot of the bluffs. and thar sight met
my eyes; dead buffers, and live Indians
skinnin' and cuttin them up. How
many deal ones 1 couldn't tell, but thar
war piles of them. Some of them war
floatin' down the river, and on tother
side war the main gang, still runnin', as
If Ole Nick war after them. tried to
count the ,h;evin' 'breech-clo, e. but
they war mixed up so much it war a
hard job. l made out sixty of them, and
that war more than I cared to tackle
single-handed. It war about o'clock
in the afternoon, and have never wished
for darkness to come as did then. /
darsn't try to get away in daylight, and /
war as hungry as wolf. he'd eat
nothin' since mornin'; but the day wore
off at last, and With the first dark crept
out; gained the top of the bluff, then
took q bee-line for clmp, down the
smooth bottom, and, 1 tell you, boys, /
warn't long in gittin' thar. As for the
bar, 'spect thar wsrnt much left of
him by the time the buffers had passed
over him, and was so thankful to git
outen the scrape that war willin' to let
the redskins hev what war left of him.
So, boys, you bev the hull story, and
now pass that ar flask, for I'm as dry as
chip"