The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1888-11-17

II yo WHY yer lne ana property. open al
sho winders but don't go away, for want
ye should keep your eye on the red chist.
Pm going to load my gun and keep my guard
on the outside; there's more Of 'em not far
off. You, C'lumby Ann, run over to Abe
Motifs and tell him to come here to wunst.
dassent tackle that rascal alone"
Columbia started to perform her fathers
order, leaving him charging his fowling-
piece with buckshot and touching up the
sleepy boys with his gunsticls. The path TO
Abe Motifs lay by the old sycamore, where
she found Ralph still waiting, anxious to
know tho meaning Of that frightened call
from the house She was hastily telling him
when they were startled by the almost sim
ultaneous report of two guns. They ran in
the direction of the shots and came upon the
| scene of queer duel betwcen--w whom would
you guess '-old man Seaton and Billy Hay.
wood
1t so happened that upon his return from
Briertown with the license Bill had be-
thought him of pair of saucy raccoons that
mad been flourishing rankly on the new corn
that stood shocked on n certain portion of
his estate namely, the "Wels eighty"
He determined TO devote the remainder of
the broken afternoon to cleaning and prim.
ing his double -barrelled gun, and when the
moon had risen he would try for a shot at
the marauders The ''Wells eighty" was
disconnected with his main farm, and to
reach it he had to go through lane that
skirted Seatons orchard. He was siullsng
along on the errand we have explained when
he suddenly came upon the old man, likewise
armed with shotgun The instant he came
in sight, Seaton yelled, ",Take him, Bull !"
and fired, the charge blowing away the up.
per half of the ancestral stove-pipe hat.
Billy returned fire promptly, peppering his
would-be father-in-law's left arm and shoul.
der. At the same moment he was seized
from behind by Seaton's big dog. The
half-crazed old man rushed upon his an.
tagonist with clubbed gun, just as the
latter drew a hunting-knife and plunged il
with fatal effect into the dogs neck Seaton's
ill-aimed blow was parried, and the two mor
gave each other look of enragcd recog.
nition Haywood then fired the remaining
charge into the body of the writhing dog,
| and disappeared on a Looping run. The old
| farmer tumbled down in the dust beside
Bull, muttering: "Blood and carnage /
| Blood and carnage!"
Theygot him up-his wife, Columbia and
Ralph Bryan-and were taking him into the
house, when the pedder came limping out,
| his bandaged feet radiating the condensed
perfume of German pharmacy. Columbi
managed to say to him:
Don't let father see you. Get your pacA
and sleep on the haymow"
~ will, num-" he whispered, land light
| out airly. An its murthern' dhrunk the
| ovid man is" ho remarked to himself, as
| he climbed the ladder to the hay-loft.
The enext morning Seaton, sitting bolstered
up in bed held conference with his valued
friend and trusted adviser, Abram Mott,
who counseled him in this wise:
Just keep this young fellow right by yG
for few days. He knows more about sur.
gerry than half the old sarjints in the kentry.
You mind when that drunken Jim Stiles got
run over and his head peeled. Well, Ralph
Bryan was on the grouud, and he just
Strengthened out that torn skelp, and stetched
it to its place, and patted it down and sewed
it up, neat as ball-covcr, and it got we'll
See that with my own eyes! He's a doctor,
all but the diplomy, and the beauty of it is,
he dassent charge ye. You've got right
smart of fever now, and you'll be laid up
for week anyhow; and If ye git doctor
out from town he'll make bill that'll take
half yer summers crop to pay. Just keep
this chap right by ye-says he's willin' to
stay-and you'll come out all right in few
days. He's got the most o. them shot out o.
we now and he can pick the rest out at odd
spells, when you feel like lettin' him."
As this good man was leaving the house
he gave Columbia's ear a sly pinch and said:
"Look here, my chicken; jist credit yer
Unco Abe with doin' yc good turn in yen
der"
Seaton was quite i'll for week or two.
He was also strangely subdued and chast
| ened in spirit He seemed to have for
gotten good many things. He seemed
to have forgot to ask how Ralph hap
pened to be there that night. He for
got to inquire after the peddler H. alsC
forgot that he was the first offender in
the shooting affray. He only remembered
that he was poor old man. who had been
fired upon and wounded upon his own land,
and that his faithful and beloved dog was
dead. He would whimper and moan awhile,
then drop off to sleep peacefully, wishing
plaques of mildew and murrain on his old
time favorite, Billy Haywood. One day
after he was able to sit up, he said to Ralph,
who had been his constant, tireless at
tendant:
"You've acted the part of son by me,
and Pm gon' to act the part of father by
you. Go to Chicago this winter, and git
yer diplomy from old Rush, and when spring
comes you and C'lum may have yer own
way"
And they did.
On the morning after the fracas, young
Haywood set his wits to work to solve the
problem, ''what to do about it." He was
all ready to get married-clothes bought
license procured, etc. AS for the Seatons,
he well knew that Bulls murderer dare not
go near the house for some time to come.
Mrs. Morse had often crossed his mental
vision, and before noon that day he had
actually proposed to the thrifty widow, the
motto on whose coat of arms was: "Pay
up or pack up"
He then rode back to Briertown and
bribed the county clerk with barrel of
winter apples to change the name in the
license from Columbia Ann Seaton to Maria
Morse; and the next day-the very Thurs
day farmer Seaton had so firmly fixed for
his wedding-Billy and the widow were
married.-Angeiina Teal, in Cosmopolitan.