The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1891-11-20
CUMMING WITH ANAPACHE

Never go cumming with an Apache,
says the San Francisco Argonaut. You
smile at such strange advice2 Well, |
might have smiled at it once myself.
But we are all creatures of circumstance,
and | was a tend .rfoot then, anyway.
This is how chummed in with my little
Indian:
was swinging my red and blue clubs
under the pepper tr e at the back of the
railroad station. This / did because |
had theory that exercise was good for
man living on desert. The lazy Mexi-
cans and most of the Americans there
abouts had no ruddy glow on their faces
They were all sallow. What wanted
was ruddy glow.
My red and blue clubs circled about
very prettily that day, and the ruddy
glow came; also dripping epidermis
and big desire to sit down in the shade
of the pepper tree and blow tobacco
smoke. The tree was a small one. When
the station tank ran over, which was not
often, its roots received little moisture.
SO it grew, slowly.
As soon as dropped my clubs a squeal
of disgust went up from somewhere, and
as | turned about | saw a small brown
head dart behind cactus lined rock.
said nothing, but leaned back on my
seat, pulled my sombrero down over my
;ace, anu slammed sleep. with one half
closed eye on the rock aud the biz cactus
oil, H.,
Apache out of his hole that way.
Next day, with my beautiful exercise
theory still bristling in my brain, l
turned quickly, while in the midst of my
club swinging and saw the wide open
eyes and gasping mouth of the cunning
est little savage 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 OH his
back. His one short garment was cot
ton sack, with holes cut through it for
his head and arms.
Come, Tads, )" cried, christening him
in that heeting second with name that
stuck to him all his life, "out of that"
And / jumped behind the rock. swinging
an open hand that did not grasp the -four
sack as had intended it should.
Where was the wee savage
Like lizard he had darted from sight
somewhere in that little patch Of rocks
and cactus, though there did not appear
to be cover enough there to conceal q
jack rabbit.
THE spines must scratch him. l
thought as looked at the prickly cactus
but did not know then how Apaches
put up with such small irritations. Not
wanting to give the boy unnecessary tor
ture went back to my clubs. Throwing
my eyes about again l caught another
fieeting glimpse of the brown head as it
lodged behind the rock.
Tads must have been disappointed next
day, for there was 1o club swinging
under the pepper tree. The duties Of
telegraph agent lay too heavily upon me,
and the sun lay too heavily upon the
desert. saw Tad steal away from his
lair about two hours after my usual ex-
ercise time and walk down the sand drifts
with detected air, his one garment
tapping in the hot wind.
A wild nature like his was proof against
such snares as the toothsome confection.
the golden orange, or the mealy peanut.
found that out by trial in the course of
the next week. But an old iackknife
won him over. That was something his
Apache mind could grasp. 1t was a
greater delight to him than the red and
blue clubs. Sworn friends from that day
were Tads and /. His talk was ridicu-
lous mixture of English, Spanish, and
Apache, and his voice was very throaty.
But understood him.
Indian like, he said little. 1t was,
therefore, easy to get along with him.
He would sit for hours on high stool
listening to the "tunk-tunk-tunk" of nv
sounder. The telegraph was an awful
mystery to him at first, and it squelched
his imagination; but he solved the prob.
lem at last. A man away off over the
mountain spoke with his finger to me and
spoke back to him. That was his idea
of it, and it was not such bad one
either. The hummings Of the wires over
mead were the voices of people with pom
derous fingers, but they were not of thi,
world.
How the cowboys laughed when the.
saw Tads and me in the station
That tenderfoot's queer one, 4" they
sad of me.
The despsed Apache could not craw
into their hearts-no, not even if he wer
g year old.
Hell steal everything the tenderroot'
got, " they pleasantly averrcd. But h
did not
When Tads left the station of an even
ing his little brown feet pattered straigh
over the road TO the wickiups, half mil