Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1886-11-26
BRULES GIRL.
BY ROBERT c. ". MEYERS.
The Portland Oregonian. Il ..4.5.$

was told by Bob Craddock, who drove
the wagon, to look out when they
neared Alljohn's tavern. Here were
the men in mob; with q shout they
sprang forward, undid the harness
and dragged the wagon into the cente,
Of the settlement. Her father cam,
up. ..
"Why, Dad" she laughed, display
ing her fine teeth, "if / amt glad tc
see you. It's been two years since w
Iaw each other, amt it? Now I'm
come to stay"
Whereat the men raised q loude,
shout and then she sobered up; fa1
apart II on, the others, an odd sn1il,
on his lace, WAS an out-of-shape man
She went into her fathers cabin anc
said she was tired out and out.
She was the glory OF the place; had
she so minded she might have sat al
day long and received adulation
"Wait till they see me with my hal,
curled, said She "and a red bow tn.
wrong sldeoS my ott-ear"
She tried the experiment. That day
the men called II meeting and handed
over to her keeping the tin box that
had been stored at Alliohn's.
"My" she said, I feel like little
girls story book that told of q chap
that had g. lamp that he rubbed and
fetched up a Niger every time; that
Chinese chap you know"
"Don't want no Chinese" grumbled
some one, "nnd what did ne dor"
Now, as she narrated the history OF
Aladdin, looking marvelously beauti.
ful and like some wild spontaneous
growth OF this part OF the world that
gave forth soft crumbling gold and
rich metals instead OF perishable flow.
ers, she saw the man again.
"Whose is that worm fence!" she ask.
ed.
They told her that was Geordie
Crooks, an Englishman, who had
come from the Lord knows where
like so many others; that he
had built q cabin for himself n hall
mile from any other habitation, near
q clump Of stunted trees; that he was
g. lonesome sort of fellow, doing odd
jobs and often sick and miserable.
"Then there's nothing against him
but his weak body?' she queried.
Except his crooked back" return
ed Sammy Alljohn. "More in his ia
vor for he nurses US in the shakes.
We are powerful on the shakes here,
sissy, ma'am; on account of the gulch,
you know. SO Crooks nurses us; he's
the only one that can be spared for
that sort OF thing.
bah! I like a fighting man myself"
said she, mot o. nurse"
Yet from that time she manifested
an interest in the man. 1t might have
been because he took little or no in
terest in her, and she the only woman
f~r miles around. She was not used
10 such treatment, and who was he
that presumed to be different from
the other men. Once she saw him
coming down the gulch, his face white
and bitter. 'l4e's got the heart dis.
ease," she SAID, the nursey"
She took ON a way OF standing out.
side when the men went to and from
the lode, SO she saw him two or three
times a day.
Sometimes Of evenings he sat upon
the ground outside his shady cab
in. smoking his pipe, while the
other men we're playing their games
OF profit and loss at the tavern.
In her loiterin5s sii,, SAW him thus time
end again. And at last it became un.
bearable, SO she went to him. why
don't you act like II man." she said,
''!nstead OF sittin, here and mop
mg?' He glanced up at her, and ex-
tended his hand.
Wonders my old home, LASS he
answered. II like to sit and face it
when my days work is done.''
"Show me your place." she said.
tie took her to his cabin and show.
ed her the little neatness he had con.
trlved there; he showed her the clumr
OF trees OF which he was especially
proud, as being the only trees around
until you came to the gulch that
boosted OF q few more.
: For many evenings after that she
went and talked with him, asked
about his prospects his plans, ques.
tioning him as to his past, trying to
lind out something she knew not what.
And when he had answered her and
his answers seemed void of what she
wanted, she would say, "There! turn
your face told your old home and talk
about it,"
Bob Craddock saw her there once.
That night after her father left All.
johns a meeting was called. They
watched their opportunity and one
day when she was alone, they waited
on her. "Just as though he could be
anything to me" she laughed, "while
all you fine fellows are at hand" =.
, we won't have no Chinese and we
won't have no English preferences
Sammy Alljohn said. 1--WE don't in
tend to tell your old man nothing,
but we're a vigllant committee to keep
Crooks from making afool of you and
going and marrying you. Your ia.
ther'd mind the man it he knew"
Alter that she made more of the
men than usual, though she kept in
the house when they went to and
irom the lode, and never stirred forth
Of evenings. At the end of a month
she came out as the men went past
one morning; she was yellow and hag
gard and shivering. Sissy Bruleil
got the shakes, they whispered, awed. I
In the early evening she heard .
4 knock on the door; her hand up over
/. her heart sha r,o,,4 4h.,.s q --I - -