The Arizona sentinel. [volume] (Arizona City [Yuma], Yuma County, A.T. [Ariz.]) 1872-1911, 1889-09-07
DICKY AND BILLY.
The Latter Innocently Led the For
mer Into Danger.

All that summer Dicl1y and Billy had
been inseparable friends ever since
the day when, bereft of mother, broth
ers and sisters at one cruel stroke by
the falling of giant tree, little Billy
had been brought to the house badly
frightened and very noisy little ball of
yellow down, looking more like wad
of wet and tangled cotton than lineal
descendant Of champion Pekin duck.
"What a pity" said Mrs. ellison,
Dicky's mother, as she placed the
lonely orphan in a snug nest before the
fire. where the genial glow would grad
ually dry and enliven his bedraggled
feathers. There were nine of them
this morning-such a pretty little flock
and the old duck was such a pet!
Well, well, l don't reckon the little
thing will live, but still, we can let
him take his chances"
Watch Dicky. or he'll kill him
afore night" remarked Mr.. ellison,
laughingly; thinks there never was
sech purity thing, Dicky does; keep
him away from him, mother, or you'll
have no duck"
Whats the difference?" growled old
man McCrory, the hunter and trapper
who made his home with the Gilson's,
''the boy might as well kill him as the
varmints. Why! sech sign of coon as
there is along the edge of the bottom!
an mink tracks till you can't rest! no
danger that the bird will ever have ter
die of old age"
But if Billy merely loved his young
friend for the sake of the dainty It'd
bits that they shared together, the
same charge could not apply to Dicky.
Billy was his only playmate in the long
hours McCrory's big, good-natured
hound. Track, was absent with his
master in the woods. When Track
was at home, Billy was often neglected
for never was there such a good,
playful, giant of dog before-but
when the hound was absent, then
the baby and the duckling were
as inseparable as brothers. Dicky's
home was at the verge of one
of the many great swamps of
the Southwest Years before his father
had cleared farm and built house
on low mound near the confluence of
a river and smaller creek. In the
dry season of the year this cultivated
mound was little sunshiny paradise
in a wilderness of canebrake and cy-
press, but with the heavy rainfall that
might come at any time, the swollen
streams overfowed the neighboring
low-grounds, and Gilson's hill as it
was called became an island and sepa-
rated from the narrow highlands by
deep strip of water, which was many
rods wide at the narrowest point.
A few yards from the rear of the
house was the boat landing, where
from one years end to another, the
half-dozen sl1iffs and dugouts owned by
Mr.. ellison and his friend McCrory lay
floating in the submerged grass and
weeds. or high and dry on the bare
ground, just as the stage of water
chanced to be. And here, one morn
ing in August, the aquatic instincts of
the restless Billy led him to wander,
and close in the rear followed the
straw hat, and long, Hnsey skirt of his
friend
Billy" called the child. with i'm
pressive severity, ''tum bat here to me.
Ooll dit d'ownded if 90 do in dar!'
But Billy knew better than that; he
walked with grave deliberation to the
waters edge, wet his throat with few
drops, then lay one side of his head
and neck in the black ooze, as though
trying a mud application for the ear
ache; and, as if satisfied with the re-
suit. shook himself gaily, waded fur
ther out and f1oated like an autumn
leaf on the bosom of the waters.
''Oh, ducky, ducky! Doc tum bat,"
cried the anxious baby; but his appeal
was unnoticed and in vain. Never be-
fore, in Bnly's recollection, had he en-
joyed himself so well as at the present
moment. The choicest morsel of cake
or pie could not have enticed him to
the shore.
Dicky stood with his little bare toes
in the water and rubbing his eyes saw
agely with his fat. dimpled fists. His
Billy was gone-yes, he was!-he knew
he'd never come back any more! If he
could only catch him once.
If Dicky could get in the boat, per-
haps he could regain possession of his
pet Losing his hat in his haste he
scrambled about, and made his way
back to the stern, and the added weight
in the boat swung the bow clear of the
bank and around into deeper water.
With a mischievous firt and
chuckIe the runaway Billy darted far
ther out, and as Dicky reached out to
detain it he caught at a hanging bush,
and unconsciously exerting his baby
ish strength, saw with delight that the
boat was moving, actually following
his escaping property.
'Dess I'll dit him d'wec'ly," muir
INJURED Dicky, and indeed, it began TO