The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1889-03-15

with no money 10 buy nuth'n with?
An now, when / managed to scrape
spare money enough together SOS 10
Wal, he's a-gittin' worse-an' oh,
he'll never see the ole elephant, I'm
afeard-"
Very soon after the bright rays
shone full in the faces of the group OF
cowboys. as the cayuses bounded
across the prairie towards the point
where the section-road wound into the
strip of timber that fringed Buzzard
creek No one had suggested this
movement, but all had started as if
moved by a common impulse, though,
to be exact, Scotty, the inpatient, was
a little ahead of his comrades. OF
running OUT the granger nothing
was said.
Prayed fer him to live to see the
ole ELEPHANT muttered Scotty.
Wal" said old Slade, earnestly,
.'if he lives half an hour, an we have
luck, blamed if he don't SEQ
That's whatr' broke in some one.
''Mebby we kaint-" began another.
''Mebby we kin ~ interrupted Slade,
firmly
But elephants is mighty"
mo differencei We're able fer him,
Ireckon. an'-an' the sick boy never
seed elephantr'
The advance of the circus towards
the cattle country had not all been at
tended by good fortune. but, IS the
armed cowboys dashed up, the MANA
ger feared he was about to sustain his
crowning misfortune The tales he
had heard of their reckless disregard
for the persons and property of
strangers were fully as Munchausen-
like as those the cowboys had heard of
the elephant The weapons drawn, as
the manager felt sure, 10 slaughter
any opposers, were but as protective
measures against the anticipated
charge of the elephant. Tho mana
gers fears seemed realized as there
was a nervous rush upon the part of
the COW boys which hurried the ele-
phant, driver and all out of the pro-
cession- Perhaps, If he had beheld the
bank-bill that found its way into the
ready hand of the elephant-driver, he
would not have wondered at the slight
resistance of the latter.
When he had recovered from the
astonishment into which he had been
thrown by the summary proceedings,
the few words spoken. and the bank
bills old Slade dropped rs he hurried
past, the old elephant WAS numbering
rapidly away in the midst of the
frightened and houncing cayuses-
The turtle-dove flew from the piece
OF a fence as the elephant and his cap
tors hurried up TO the shack. The
grass muf1led the footballs of the ami
mails
The granger was still on his Knees,
with his face buried in the quilt OF the
poor bed, and the morning breeze
that famed the sick child's face and
futtered the pictured bill on the wall
ruffled the unruly tufts of his hair till
1t felt like the touch of baby fingers
The little face was less flushed now,
ma the gasping feebier. The child's
dim thoughts wandered still more, and
his dim eyes could hardly see the flut-
tering bill "Pappy," the weak voice
whispered, "a will the ole elephant ever
Gomez
A great bulk barred the sunlight
from the little window, and the long,
snaBy trunk glided in, and the finger
like protuberance at the end very
softly clasped the sick child's hand
''Oh, Pappy!-pappy! The ole ele-
phant has GOMEZ
The bowed head of the granger was
raised The child had started half
upright. and the little hands were
clasping the caressing trunk of the old
elephant.
Then, before the granger could give
expression to astonishmcnt, the cling
ing hands relaxed, and the old ele-
phant trunk eased the child s weight
softly back to the pillow again
And the turtle-dove that had re-
turned TO the piece of a fence uttered
her mournful COO.
When the elephant went away, the
granger was kneeling beside his dead,
and on the pillow near the still face
lay the bank bill that had been given
to old Nero's driver, and beside it
were other bank-bills
As tho little cavalcade journeyed
back towards the place where the sec
tion-road wound into the Buzzard
crock timber, old Slade said: I'm
agin this runnin' -out businessr'
And me, tool" answered every
cowboy of the group, and the subject
was dropped
In the audience &C the circus. that
afternoon. was a little squad of broad
hated and beweaponed cowboys. who
surprised the neighbors by being on
their good behavior during the entire
performance Only once did they APP
Plaud with any thing like cowboy
boisterousness, and that was when
the children laughed and clapped
their hand, as the old elephant Nero
came into the ring.-Tom P Morgan,
in Leslie's Newspaper.