The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1889-10-18

ledge, and shot past me down into the
ravine-a regular cataract Of stuff. I'll
kept up for about half an hour andthen
the worst was over. But I hadto snug
gle close, you better believe, after the
main body had got by, for now and then
q struggling rock would tumble leis-
urely ver the ledge, and sock down too
close for comfort. I lay still till ]. was
sure the thing was done for. Then /
got up and took q survey. I was in q
pretty pickle. The terrace narrowed in
both directions, sort of alligator shape.
It was thirty feet down to the next ter.
race, and that didn't appear to have any
outlet, either. OF course, 1 couldn't
shin back up that rock. I didn't know
what to do. I let off a few yells, with
q faint hope that somebody might be
within hearing. I could just catch a
glimpse of Hornetsville, away down in
the valley through the opening of the
gulch, SO far that it looked like a clus-
ter Of powders beside the river. Iheard
no answer to my calls but the far off
echo from the other side of the gulch
und the faint clatter of the stream be-
low. sat down and thought, every
once in a while giving a yell, till the
echo began to make me feel queer and
lonesome like. Then I shut up and be-
gan to smoke.
"Old 10 Seven-up told me afterwards
how it was. He and Jim Budgelow
were playing a quiet little game of old
sledge at Tom Mulligan's Double Par
lors. Jim had the bind on him 90
privately rendered me his thanks after
ward, in liquid form,) when Jim sud-
denly dropped the cards and listened.
He had fortunately forgotten his plug,
and left it at his boarding house after
dinner.
"sGreat Job? exclaimed Jim, some
body's in trouble up there in Red Hen
Gulch! Get out the boys and we'll go
see what's up. Hear that yell? No! of
course you didn't. You couldn't hear
the steam whistle down at the quarry
mill unless you climbed up on the roof
and laid your ear to the pipe. Don't
talk-go get the boys!
ut was beginning to grow dark, when
I heard faint calls away off down the
mountains. I Sc ted up, put my hands
to my mouth and roared like a fog horn.
The shouts came nearer and nearer, and
at last they were right above me. Pretty
soon I could just make out Jim's head
peering over the ledge above. They'd
been forehanded enough to bring a rope,
, so I was soon out Of that. But if it
| hadn't been for Jim Budgelow's right
ear, probably my bones would now be
decorating that terrace in Red Hen
Gulch.
"Jim didn't stay long at Hornetsville
after that. He got in a couple of little
scrapes. In the first one he had the
J right of it and nobody objected.
Jim was playing down at Tom Null
ligan's pretty late one night with a sort
of a dandy sport that had dropped in
, from Denver. Everybody else had gone;
Tom Mulligan had fallen asleep in his
chair, and the man behind the bar was
nodding across the counter, which was
, almost directly back of Jim. He was
losing right along in a way that made
him uncomfortable and suspicious. He
glanced around; the %barkeeper was half
lying across the bar with his head on
' one arm and his face turned toward the
. players. He appeared to be asleep
e However, Jim took the ~I-ec.a:ion o
e quietly taking the plug from his ca,
h without being observed by his oppo
c nent. Pretty o he heard the fellow
S behind him softly lift his head a little
t as if afraid Of being overheard, and no
with the unconscious movement OF
sleeping man.. Jim slipped his hant
o down to his revolver, ncise!essly ad
justed a little mirror he had behind tn,
lock for just such emergencies, cooked
it and quickly brought it up behind the
: cards, which he had in his left hand
till the barrel pointed over his righ'
| shoulder, took aim in an instant by the
glass ut the eye of the spying bartender,
who was playing a skin game into the
hands OF the gambler and fred. He
t got his man, but the gambler was toe
/. quick for him, and shot out of the dool
! like lightning. That was the last evel
seen of him in Hornetsville. Some Of
the boys found fault with Jim for not
> giving it to the sport first, but Jim said,
3 though he'd trust that right ears re-
: ports from the word go, he thought he'd
! make dead sure of his case before he
shot the fellow. The first glance in the
little mirror settled it. OF course, no.
body could blame Jim for this affair,
!, though at first Tom Mulligan was a
, little mad to lose such a irst-class bar
tender, good articles of that sort being
somewhat rare in the mountains Just
then.
: But hardly a one of the boys stuck
up for Jim in his next scrape. He
knew they wouldn't, and lit out with
out waiting for public opinion to get at
| him.
3 "Tom Mulligan started a restaurant
| next door to his saloon, and brought a
girl W from Denver as cashier. She
, wasn't very handsome she was freckled,
had washed out red hair and bad teeth
!. but she was a girl and the boys went
, wild over her. The restaurant trade
just doomed. Jim was completely gone
on her. He couldn't get enough to eat
in those days, and couldn't pay often
enough for what he did get. Spruce
, young Johnny Whittle, though he'd