Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1891-10-01
swered Adam Hamlet.

II
mo, amt amin to git homesick
pap. It'll be plumb different, know
from Twin ermong friends; but we've
come out hyer to make us home of oul
own, an I amt goin' to git homesick.
And she set her lips firmly, as was Nancy
Hamlet's habit when summoning hel
forces of resolution.
"God bless yer, Nancy! Yer brave
one, an don't know how I'd ever gil
erlong without yer" said Adam in q
fond tone.
''Jest see the posies an the purity birds
hain't goin' to be without friends with
such company as them to cheer me out
hyer," she said in cheerful voice.
That evening they encamped on the
banks Of small, thinly wooded stream.
While Hamlet attended to the tired
team Nancy gathered some dry twigs,
with which she soon had fire started.
Then she put on larger sticks, and when
she had secured a good bed of Goals she
went to the stream, filed the tea kettle
with water and fixed it to boil. This
done, she went to the larder in the
wagon, cut several slices of bacon, pre-
pared large pan Of fresh biscuits and
was fitting around her camp fire like a
veritable sylvan nymph of cookery.
Hamlet had picketed his animals to
Craze on the delicious grass along the
creek, and had just come back to the
wagon when a horseman came riding to-
ward the camp.
In the roseate tints of sunset Hamlet
saw that the stranger was young man
of about twenty-six, handsome and
straight as a pine. He wore a semi
Indian suit of fancifully fringed leather,
and his light curly hair reached to his
massive shoulders from under his wide
sombrero.
He rode up to the wagon and halted
before Adam.
"Good evening, strangerI" he greeted
the mover.
Good evenin' ,sirr returned the hunch-
back, looking admiringly at the stran-
gers fine pony and tasteful equipments.
"What pint air yer amin fur, stran-
ger?" asked the horseman, his blue eyes
following the movements of Nancy as
she busted herself with the cooking over
the little camp fire, just beyond the spot
where he had refined in. He could not
help thinking what pleasant picture
the girl made in her dark calico dress
and large checked apron, while the aroma
of the coffee and frying bacon which rose
on the prairie air was very alluring, in
deed, to vigorous, hungry man.
Il be amin fur Cherokee county,"
answered Hamlet.
Eyer don't say!"
Eyes; I've snapped fur a claim down
Their"
"Wherb0uts!"
"On a stream thet's called Deer creek.
"Well, I'm glad O. that. live nigh
Deer creek myself"
''Thet so?" and Hamlet regarded his
future neighbor with fresh interest.
Eyes, LIhave a cattle ranch near the
Neosho river, bout five miles southwest
o Deer creek. Wher yer from, stranger"
'From nlinoy."
81 understood yer ter say as yer'd
swapped fur somebody's claim down
Their. Who did yer swap With"
elk Fender"
"Great Scottl Has Tx left Their country
fur good an swapped off his claim"
eyes, there's no doubt about it, sir,
fur we made a fair an squar' trade, as
my darter Nancy thar can testify"
81 amt a-dOubtin' yer word, stranger,
at all. Only Tx had a mighty vaTable
piece O. sile ON Deer creek, and it didn't
never seem as eff he keered to part with
it."
"Waal, yer see Fender come back to
his folks purity homesick, an hearin' Of
my wantin' to go out to Kansas, he Jest
up an offered to make swap of his
claim for some stock had. So the land,
yer say, is val'able:"
Eyes, TX Pender's claim is the best on
Deer creek. But yer hev no writins to
prove the claims yers, hev yer?''
"Nothin' only TX Pender's own writin'
to say Their swap is genywine. He said
he hadn't never contracted fer the
claim"
mo, fur reckon TX, like some other
chaps l know, wasn't keerin' to hev the
land leaguers git up necktie social fur
his special benefit"
''The land leaguers? What's themg'
"Ther settlers who contend tibet con-
gress has no right to sell the lands ter
some ole monopolist, but tibet they hev
plumb right to pre-empt any homestead,
an pay little fee ter our government
for their places, 'ste'd O. big pile to
some individual who has bought the
privilege of disposing of what's called
the neutral lands"
81 never heerd nothin' O. these leaguers
before"
well, they've been a-threatenin' fur
some spell what they'd do eff congress
done that way with the lands, an hev
been stirred up considerable. But it's
just lately tibet they're calm meetin's
at the settlers cabins and organizin'
leagues. Thar's a heap of excitement
out hyer, stranger, over these neutral
lands"
81 reckon they won't trouble me-"
"Ef they do, Tom Byers will see yer
safe through. I'm not a Lacquer nur a
anti-leaguer; 1 jest reserve Their right to
act as l please, as any free American
citizen ought to do"
'Thet's me, too, Mr.. Byers. But won't
yer lite, give yer beast rest, an take
supper with us?"