River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1895-08-08


carkisses to trade.
Fur awhile we thought we'd have
TO bust up them kegs or drink the
bulge ourselves; an as none on us was
anyways anxious TO commit suicide, we
warn't SIGH fools as to do that.
''Waal. when you redcoats WAS mean
derin' round the plains an accidentally
gettin' nearer to the fort, things begun
20 look mighty blue fur us. But one
day thar come a camp of Crees from
the Cypress Hills an sot up their terees
purity close to the fort-they was Little
Pines band, the meanest lot of reds on
the plains. Every dirty buck Of 'em
war list dyin' fur whisky, but they
didn't have no furs TO trade. an the old
chief wouldn't let them swop off Their
ponies; tellin' us, cool as could be, that
if we dickered fur 'cra Rcd take EN- all
away ag'inl
THE cayuses bein' considerable
likelier lot of critters than their own
ers. an us a-wantin' of them so bad,
this talk of old Piney's made MS hop
pin mad. an we'd have laid him out
cold If the Injuns hadn't been too many
for us tackle. So we jist let 'em
hang e-rOund. sufferin' awful fur a
drink of whisky. but nary a drop
would we give 'em. an a thousand of
sich varmints dassent haze stormed the
fort. We was willin' q give one keg
Of whisky fur two ponies. though un-
ier ornery circumstances half a gallon
of Ticker like that would buy a well
broke cayuse; but that old rip Piney
war too wide-erwake, an wouldu { let
a single critter go. IL we'd got forty
OF fifty ponies, we could have skipped
out with all our most valooa bic belong
ms. an left you innocents to amoose
yerselves ir the empty fort.
Things run on in this way fur most
a week, when one night, as we was
sittin' round playin' cards. all of a
sudden the Crees started up the awful
est racket YOU ever heard. Joe john
son he jumped on eend an run ont to the
gate to see what the rumpus was, an
when he came back you'd orter saw
the pious look of him. Boys SEE he,
real sollum-like, boys, you'd best be-
gin fur to pray. The worlds Dustin
up. surel Over thar on the hill, bout
two miles off. the grounds spittiu' fire.
the stars is fivin' round loose. an Their
insideS is BLOWN up; the Injuns is try
in to hide themselves, an thar's tarna-
tion to pay. It's the wust conglomera-
ton you ever seed. an IL any of you
fellers ever done anything = nat warn't
jist squar', you'd better fix it mp
mighty quick. fur il looks like the day
OF judgments a-cou1in'H
I'VE all run To see fur ourselves. an
thar. sure enough. il war-red an blue
flames, fiery sarpints. an gin'ral con-
glomeration, jist ez Joe said. An
while we stood a-shalxin', thar came
two thunderclaps an sheets of light
min, right close to the ground. 1t was
a puzzler for awhile, but old Keno Bill,
who war down to Benton Fourth of
July. he ser: Boys. that thar is fire.
works, an that Dustin noise is can
mons a-shootin'. Them's Queen Vic
tOria' perleece what we heared on. but
what they're kickin' up SIGH a rumpus
fur beats me-
Now, you may bet that it didn't
take us long to guess that the redcoats
was a-lookin' fur the fort, an we
knowed they'd be purity sure to find it
next day. an what to do we didn't
know. We hadn't no horses, an
couldn't get none from the Crees,
though the varmints might easy have
stole lots more. 'Twan't no use to start
off ON foot, an we was in a bad fix,
you bet!
lin course we knowed we war all
vartuous men. what hadn't done moth
in. only honest tradin', an meobe
killed a few Indians which warn't Of
no count But we'd hearei purity
tough stories of you Britishers, an
didn't know what you might do TO
free American citizens when you
cotched 'em on your own side. So we
held a sort of council right thar. an
BuclSslSin Charley spoke up an ser:
Boys, we'd best git rid of that yal
Ter jacket fust thing
That riled us up wuss nor shunks,
an Bronco Jack ser:
by jingo! We amt a-goin' to spill
no good whisky. We kin jist hide the
pizen in them willers down by the
erik, an if the sojers finds 1T, why we
kin sw'ar we didn't know nothin'
erbOut it. But. less their noses is
mighty sharp. they won't find il, an
when they go way beat, Wen be all
hunky dory.'
"Waal the hull crowd felt that way.
We didn't want 10 waste stuff that war
wuth ten beaver skins a gallon-sich
a thing war Wicked Sc we carried
the twenty kegs out an sot 'em down
among some thick bushes under the
bank. Then we felt ehocl full of in
nerence an resoomed our game, waitin'.
comfOr table ez could be. fur you fell
lers to disxiver the fort, which war
jam mp teetotal now.
''Bimeby we heared the Crees at IL
agin-a-hollerin' an yelliu' wuss nor
ever. Sqnar-toed Jimmy scooted out
10 see what war up. an when he got
back he obsarved, short an snappy ez
a bob-tailed cat:
boys. them red devils has found
the licker-
THAT scarf US bad, for we knowed
the wild cusses war sure to git ugly.
80 we locked the gates loaded up all
our guns an watched outen the loop
holes.
Thar war erbout hundred lnJuns
an hundred gallons of whisky,
which. conSiderin' its natur, war
enough to lay out any eight hundred
two-legged critters; an in less than
half hour the reds war all fghtin'
drunk. a-bellOwin' an roarin' like
butler bulls In stampin' time. But be-
fore another half hour had gone by,
every mothers son of 'em-old Piney
an" all-wss a-lyin' on the ground.
stiffer'n so many logs Then Long
Dave-he's a preacher now-kind of
meditatin'. remarked:
This ere arn't bad time to sraSc
fur them ponies
Reckon not, sez half dozen on us
to Unct
so we got the cayuses in right off.
We didn't leave one of the animiles,
cause the reds mightn't like the trade
when mornin' come; an if they was
afoot they couldn't foller us, fur we
warn't goin' 20 stop thar TO argoo the
pint Anyhow, il war a real honest
swap So We loaded the packs up in