The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1895-05-02

ySSSllS ASI opinions Of King
! ! ! : !. ! ! ! ! |. ] !.
SaSSA ~ Cole at Fort St.
aSfHE SS$aZzhzM Martin. One opin-
ASSs:ss:::SSSM8sE ion was that held
i#ts NJ .N%HSM by the general
HSN 4sEE %st@feIh public that he
H Nm HMsS.t was mongrel pup
q VI &@HM%M! of nointelligence,
+ kHa&G GSR and the other was
ASs "a 49, that of the Peck
family, in particular, who maintained
as stoutly that he was of fine breed
snd Of remarkable sagscity.
Billy Peck and Polly Peck told many
an odd tale in proof o. this belief.
Billy said that whenever he went
swimming King Cole sat upon the
bank Of the creek (he was none too
fond of the water himself) and at the
end Of half an hour, which was the
length Of time Billy was allowed to
stay in the water, King Cole notified
kim in sharp peremptory barks that
his time was up. If he psid no atten-
tion to this notice the dog would con-
quer his dislike Of getting wet, and,
plunging into the creek, bring the de-
hnquent boy to land. Polly always
capped this story with marvellous
tale of how once when she had been
trundling the baby carriage on the
slope by the creek and stopped to
watch the geese there, King Cole had
pushed stones behind the wheels Of
the perambulator to prevent its rolling
down the hill But the general pub
lio said that it had never with its OWL
eyes seen any Of these wonderful
things, and thst Billy and Polly Peck
were given to romancing, and reas-
serted their belief that King Cole was
mongrel pup of no intelligence. Pri'
vate Peck said that no argument short
of fs bullet would drive out al idea
after it had once got lodged in some
peoples minds, and that is perfectly
true.
Peck was an honest soldier, but he
was guilty of telling long yarns, in
which he Dragged too much ofhimseli
and King Cole that they had come to
be called, appropriating one on his
much-used phrases, "Me an Me Dog. D
According to him thing that could
not be done by this firm was not
worthy of accomplishment; and il
there was diGcult job on hand some.
body was sure to say, jestingly: "We
had better send for Me an Ny Dog. -
When, therefore, the robbery oc'
Cured at the commissary department
upon the very night thst Peck was on
guard there, jokes we're passed freely
ct his expense, everybody sarcastically
inouiring where 'sMe an Ny Dog
could have been.
Peck felt very sore about it, for he
knew that the malicious intimated thai
the deed could not have been done
without his knowledge, and that he nc
doubt shared the booty with the thief.
The thief was presumably one Of the
men called Big Brownie distinguish
him from another man in the same
company by the name of Brown, who
was very smal--for he had deserted
that same night. Sofar he had eluded
all pursuers, of whom poor Peck had
been the hottest. Peck could not give
up the hope Of finally capturing him,
and said: 81 amt done with that
vilyun yet; only give me an ny dog
. chance at him an you'll see." What
part the dog was to play was moi
ypecifed-
It was the second morning after the
robbery, and Billy and Polly Peck
wandered for some distance outside
the fort, which was on our Mexican
frontier. It was g low-lying bushy
country, uninhabited except for few
Me1icans, whose poor huts were
scattered at wide intervals over the
chsparral as this bushy land is called.
The children were now nearing one Of
the jacals Oh huts, dilapidated affair
probably deserted.
'sDon't let's 60 any further, Tn
tired" said Polly. s:rbo soldiers have
hunted all around here"
'T amt going home til! I've looked
around that old jacal. You don't
know but what that's the very place
Big Brown is hiding in
Billy pushed on. BE Was armed to
the teeth, as the saying Is, with a
broken sword, jsckkniie and piece
of rope. OF course you see that his
purpose was the capture of the thief.
The children went on very stealthily.
Billy's eagerness gave zest to the
play, SO that Notwithstanding her
fatigue Polly followed him, holding
back King Cole by the collar.
stSee, see, here are his tracks" sud
denly whispered Billy, pointing to the
trampled grass.
Polly remained calm, for she hso
,een 30 many of Big Browns tracks
!hst day, but King Cole pricked up lis
BARS and Billy's eyes glistened.
s'You stay here and King Cole witt
you, cause you run if anything IS
there, he'll bark, and I'll go and take
, look, said Billy.
They were approaching the house
rom the rear. TIE building had no
widows, but oSe could easily ."ok
into it through ihe spaces between TIE
logs Of which it hsl been cons+-octed.
Then, s;ter secopis lnspsctlon,
Billy turned his :acs around; y T>s
several degrees uSie1 tean usual, aod