The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1892-09-24
.sTHE LONG pACK. ;,

ssTHE LONG PACK"
High up among the hills on tho wag-
on road that runs through the Cascita
pass is small tavern, and which bears
The odd title of 1.-The Long Pack
!. Docs that mean o long pack of
cardsp' inquired n traveller, glancing
Mt the swinging signboard, which also
represented the weather-worn picture
Of something family resembling a
soldiers overgrown knapsack.
NO" replied the gray-haired land
lord. '1t means peddler's pack.
Nowadays they call them sample-
cases, believe" J" pointing to the bag
gage of several commercial drummcrs
that stood in a corner. You see
have good deal of that sort OF custom.
try to make the road boys as COM
Portable MS possible, for | was little
hard on their fraternity once"
"How was thatp"
"Well," said the mountain boniface,
who had waited until his daughter, u
buxom matron, had left tho room, sit
amt very pleasant story, but l like
to tell it sometimes. just to remind
myself that tho worst thing man can
have in this world is n hot, obstinate
temper. You see, came to this coast
soon after the gold fever broke out,
and settled down in the Santa Barbara
valley below here. ranching. Iwas n
widower even then, and had brought
with me from the states my only child
"A daughter, past seventeen. She
was pretty girl, if / do say, and be-
ing MS good as pretty, you can imagine
was quite wrapped up in her. OF
course, was anxious TO keep her with
Inc. and il not that, at least l looked
for her to do something better than to
fall in love with Il pcddler.
''And did she?"
| ''9eS; you see, in those days tho
country was full of young fellows who
had struck out for themselves and
were trying to get n start by carrying
knicknacks around from one town or
mining camp to another. Some of
them were lively chaps enough and
we'll educated, but l was fresh from
the states with all tho eastern
prejudices, and it almost drove me
wild when Nellie told me she wanted
to marry young fellow who brought
his pack through our district n good
deal oftener than his trade seemed to
require. So l stormcd, threatened,
locked Nellie up for q week and sent
word to her lover that had loaded my
gun for wildcats and peddlcrs.
What did Nellie do?"
"You might have guessed it, stran-
| ger. One day when l came back from
a cattle sale she was missing. chased
her q couple of days, but they had
taken TO the tall timber and it was no
use. After awhile | got q letter from
Frisco, and l wrote back saying that
disowned her, and that he had better
keep out of the range of my deer rifle. 4"
"What did you do thenp''
Suffered, mister-just suffered.
knew l was wrong, but I'd have died
rather than give in. For four years l
lived like Il toad in II rock, hating the
whole world. All the pleasure had
was in watching for peddlers. The
number l licked and chased off the
ranch during that time would astonish
you. One evening after IL terrible rain
storm, one of the tribe came to my
house and asked me for shelter for the
night. lie was y thin, weak looking
fellow, with his face covered by huge
ragged beard. He carried on his back
an enormously long and heavy pack,
md seemed so exhausted with his
tramp through the miro that hadn'
the heart TO do more than Order hin
Il of the place"
That WAS pretty hard" said the
listener
81 suppose it was. The peddlel
!! seemed all broke up when he found
wouldn't even give him bunch o
straw in the stable, and no other houst
within twelve miles. Instead of com
planning, however, he merely begged
that would allow MIN to leave hi
pack, which he said contained good
of value, under shelter from the rain.
finally consented to this. So, as l ha,
sworn one of his trade should nevc
cross my thrcsh0ld,I Il Carried his pacl
inside, while its owner imped off II
crawl under some bush or other.'
Didn't YOU fecl mean?"
''Yes; mean and bitter at the sam
time, for something nbout the man nc
minded me of Nellie's husband little
However locked and barred all tn
doors and windows, rs usual, for som
road agents had been around thos
parts about that time, and had stoo
up and robbed several ranchers; and
as told yon, was all alone. Some
how, couldn't go to sleep. l locke
at his pack sitting up in tho corner,an
wondered what made it SO long. AS
watched it ]. fancied saw it move"
"Saw it inove?"
. 1.i1 l>,l;
J eyes at first, but after watching inten,
ly for awhile, distinctly saw the fron
of n hand pressed. against the canva
,, from tho inside. Like flash then
understood tho ISholo thing. Th
peddler was one Of tho road agent
gang. and, knowilg1 had considcrabl
money ;about the '.ho,lse, they ha
y adopted that plan for smuggling on
of their crew inside the house. Afle
u l had gone to sleep, the fellow insid
4 could let in the rest and finish the jol
I. ! walked quietly across the room, too
{ my gun from the antlers, knclt down
few feet from tho pack, aimed squar
in the center and pulled tho trigger.
go on" murmured tho listener
!! with Il shuddcr.
'But the gun didn't go off, cor
tinued the landlord, clearing HI
throat. ''Tho nipple was rusty an
wouldn't work, so laid down the ritl
and got an ax from the kitchen.
), had been newly ground that day, ant
when / lifted it over my head, coun
. ed upon cleaving that pack, robber an
!, all, clear to the floor. just as l raise
the AK and bracod myself for tho blow
1-fI saw ghost
/. kSaw ghostp"
Eyes, sir. The pack opened, and
saw sticking out of its top the curl
Z yellow head, blue eyes and rosy cheek
Of my Nellie when she was little tt
of four. The shock staggered me 8
: that l sank on my knees. | wiped nj
eyes. and wondered if l had not gon
crazy. l was almost certain of i
when the ghost stretched out u pair {
. chubby white arms, and said:
"'Deevenin', dranpan''
II A A.