Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1888-11-15

if We vally yer life and property. Open all
the wlnders, but don't go away, for want
ye should keep your eye on the red chist.
m going to load my gun and keep my guard
On the outside; there's more Of 'em not far
on You, C'lumby Ann, run over TO Abe
MOTIFS and tell him to come here to wunst
oaSsent 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 gunstick The path to
Abe Motifs lay by the old sycamore, where
she found Ralph still waiting anxious to
know the meaning of that frightened call
from the house. She was hastily telling him
when they were startled by the almost SIM
Infamous report of two guns. They ran in
! the direction OF the shots and came upon the
| scene Of queer duel betwean-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
had been fiourishing rankly on the new corn
that stood shocked on certain portion OF
his estate; namely, the ''Wells eighty"
He determined TO devote the remainder OF
the broken afternoon to cleaning and prin-
ing his double-barrelled gun, and, wien tie
moon had risen he would try for a shst at
the marauders. The wells eighty was
disconnected with his main farm, and 10
reach it he had 10 go through lane that
skirted Seaton's orchard. He was skulking
along on the errand we have explained, when
he suddenly came upon the cid 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 shout
| der. At the same moment he was seized
| from behind by Seaton big dog. The
| half-crazed old man rushed upon his an
tagonist with a dubbed gun, just as the
latter drew hunting knife and plunged it
with fatal effect into the dogs neck. Seaton's
| ill-aimed blow was parried, and the two men
| gave each other a look of enraged recog-
milton. Haywood then fired the remaining
charge into the body of the writing dog,
and disappeared on Looping run. The old
| farmer tumbled down in the dust beside
Bull, muttering: BLOOD and carnagei
Blood and carnagel''
They got him up-his wife, Columbia, and
Ralph Bryan-and were taking him into the
house, when the peddler came imping out,
his bandaged feet radiating the condensed
perfume of German pharmacy. Columbia
managed to say to him:
Don't let father see you. Get your pack
and sleep on the haymow.''
81 will, num-" he whispered, land light
out airly. An its murtherin' dhrunk the
ovid man is" he remarked to himself, as
he climbed the ladder to the hay-loft.
The next 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 ye
for few days. He knows more about sur
gerry than hall 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 GROUND, and he just
Strengthened out thattorn skelp and stetched
it to its place. and patted it down and sewed
it up, neat as a ball-cover, and it got well !!
| See that with my own eyesi He's a doctor,
all but the diplomy, and the beauty of it is,
he dassent charge we. You've got right
smart of fever now, and you'll be laid up
for week anyhow; and if We git doctor
| out from town he'll make a 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
Uncle Abe with doin' ye good turn in yen
der"
Seaton was quite i'll for a week or two.
He was also strangely subdued and chast-
ened in spirit. He seemed to have for
gotten a 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. He also
forgot that he was the first offender in
the shooting affray. He only remembered
that he was a 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, sireless at
| tendant:
! you've acted the part of a son by me,
and I'm goin' 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
wayr'
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.-Angelina Teal, in Cosmopolitan.
a Gotham Fairy Tale.