The Forrest City times., 1891-07-17

was swinging my red-and-blue clubs under the pepper-tree at the back of the railroad station. This I did because had theory that exer- else was good for a man living on a desert. The lazy Mexicans and most of the Americans thereabouts had no ruddy glow on their faces. They were all sallow. What I wanted was 8 rud- dy glow.
 My red-and-blue clubs circled about very prettily that day, and the ruddy glow came; also a dripping epidermis and big desire to sit down in the shade of the pepper-tree and blow to- bacco smoke. The tree was small one. When the station tank ran over, which was not often, it's roots receiv- a little moisture. So it grew, slowly.
 As soon as l dropped my clubs squeal of disgust went up from some where, and, as turned about, saw 8 small brown head dart behind a cactus lned rock.
 l said nothing, but leaned back in my seat, pulled my sombrero down over my face and slammed sleep, with one-half closed eye on the rock and the big cactus shrubs. No use. You can not get an Apache out of his hole in tha. way.
 Next day, with my beautiful exer- else theory still bristling in my brain. turned quickly while in the midst of my club swinging and saw the wide open eyes and gaping mouth of thecun nlngest little savage 1 had ever beheld. He sprang about and fled behind the rock, but not too quickly for me to read "XXX Family Flour" in large red letters on his back. His one short garment was a cotton sack, with holes cut through it for his head and arms.
 Come, Tads," I cried christening him in that fleeting second with name that stuck to hlm all his life, "out of thatl' And jumped behind the rock swinging an open hand that did not grasp the flour-sack as had intended 1t should.
 Where was the wee savage?
 Like a lizard, he had darted from sight somewhere in that little patch 0f rocks and cactus, though there did not appear to be cover enough there to conceal jack-rabbit.
 ''The spines must scratch him." thought, as 1 looked at the prickly cactus; but did not know then how Apaches put up with such small irri- tations. Not wanting to give the boy unnecessary torture, went back to my clubs. Throwing my eyes about again, Ieaught another feetingglimpse of the brown head as it dodged behind the rock.
 Tads must have been disappointed next day, for there was no club-swing- ing under the pepper-tree. The duties of telegraph agent lay too heavily 1pon me and the sun lay too heavily upon the desert. I saw Tads steal away from his lair about two hours after my usual exercise time and walk down the sand-drifts with dejected air, bis one garment Tapping Tn the hot wind.
 A wild nature like his was proof against such snares as the toothsome confsction, the golden orange, or the mealy peanut. I found that out by trial in the course of the next week. But an old iack-knife won him over. That was something his Apache mind could grasp. It was greater delight to him than the red-and-blue clubs Sworn friends from that day were fTnds and 1. His talk was ridicu- lous mixture of English, Spanish and Apache, and his voice was very throaty. But I understood him. Indian-like, he said little. It was, therefore, easy to get along with him. He would sit for hours on a high stool listening to the "tunk-tunk junk" of my sounder. The telegraph was an awful mystery to him at first, and 1t squelched his imagination; but he solved the problem at last. A man away of in the mountains spoke with his finger to me, and spoke back to him. That was his idea of it, and 1t was not bad one, either. The hum- mings of the wires overhead were the voices ofpeople with ponderous fingers, but they were not of this world.
 How the cowboys laughed when they saw Tads and me at the sta- tiop.
 Il uut UcilucIlOOt D 0 4ucoA OIl0. they said of ms.
 The despised Apache could not crawl into their hearts-not even if he vsre 6-year old.
 "Heu steal everything the tender foot's got" they pleasantly averrsd. But he did not.
 When Tads left the station of an evening, his little brown feet battered straight over the roads to the wicki- ups, hali 2 mile away. In time he wore a narrow trail over to the husA.
 "Pitt7 -Sl," was what Tads would grln. sa sns svery day when he came shyly i-.o the office, and greeted him with friendly, 'How-de-do?" Then he would shrugh his shoulder in a way that would wrinkle the three Ks in- to such bewildering folds that you could not have read them unless you had known what they were before hand.
 One day while he was meandering about the place, grunting quietly to himself, he upset one of my battery jars
 "Tads," cried, angrily, for the des- ert's breath was hot upon me, and
 was irritating enough, let alone spill
 ed vitriol 'you're little beast!
 Skip out of here, or I'll take a stick to
 youl''
 Then arose great howl from Tads
 and he kept on bowling until an
 Apache woman came over from the
 ferr, %h. .,J