Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1888-04-26

tended the construction Of fullsized
one During his down" days, the
ague-affiicted man. between the inter.
walls of chilling and perspiring. ex.
planned to him the workings Of q trot.
line and elucidated the mystery Of
grounding day" and why some vege-
tables should be planted in the "dark
the of moon" Thus the lad became
learned in the secrets of the Western
squatter. He assisted at the work in
every way possible. both within and
without the shacks or cabins of each
brother. He sat at Sans bedside,
gave him cooling draughts or famed
him when the fever was on, and. when
he felt better, detailed to him the little
gossip of the neighborhood, how a new
conner had taken up clam on section
40 or how Lige Banners Cherokee COW
had been "mired" in the "branch."
Among the stock at feeding time
Jim made himself useful, and many
a trip he made from one claim to the
other. running on errands for the
brothers.
One day, so late in the fall that the
brick-colored tops of the iron-weeds
had long ago turned almost black and
the rock-weeds OH the slop stood like
dismantled, leafless ghosts. serious
accident befell Josh. He was riding
over from his own claim to assist in
the work at the shack of the ugue-
smitten Sam. As he neared the house,
riding close to the barbed-wire fence,
rabbit suddenly sprang up almost
beneath the horses feet. The animal,
a half-broken colt, SHE'D quickly.
stumbled, and, in some inexplicable
manner, fell against the barbed fence.
The rotton blackberry post gave way,
and in a moment horse and rider
were down. Between the cutting Of
the barbs of the wire and the thresh-
ing of the horse Josh was lucky to es-
cape as well as he did. As it was,
one thi gh was cruelty lacerated and
an ankle sprained in painful man.
ner, while there were minor cuts and
bruises nearly all over his body. At
the sound of shot, little Jim rushed
from the shack to see Josh. with a
smoking pistol in his hand. crawling
away from the still-quivering body of
the dead colt, halt covered with blood
from the cuts of the barbed wire.
Hit was mercy to shoot him. "
Sam said, as supported as we'll as pos
sible by the boy, he made his painful
way to the cabin. Then little Jim
had two invalids on his hands Sam
managed to drag his ague-enfeebled
form about the room and assist in the
rude dressing of Josh's wounds.
A week. two weeks passed, and still
Josh was unable to do more than to
hobble about the room on a pair OF
rude crutches constructed by little Jim.
Three weeks saw him still unable to
leave the house, and the month was
drawing to a close before he could
limp as far as the little hay-thatched
stable.
The work of the two claims fell
heavily upon little Jim. but he strug-
gled along manfully with it. Josh's
stock was driven over to Sans claim,
and the other homestead deserted fol
the time being. Some of the furnit-
ure was brought over and the unin-
habited shack looked forlorn. indeed.
Just after Josh had successfully &C.
complished his first trip to the stable,
and after rubbing the noses of the
horses and giving the he;fers a ''nub.
bling" apiece. had returned to the
house, there came a noise at the DOR
and Hank Bird, unbidden, strobe in.
"Rid over yere to put you on yer
guard" he roared. as loudly as if his
hearers had been several rods instead
of scarce a dozen feet away. Gov
ment land Office has got word
that right smart o claims
out this away is only bein'
held stead o. lived on. Inspector
+ 5