The Canton times., 1895-05-31


lures contortions grew awful, and he
anguish too great for amusement
pete's grin faded insensibly; HI
scratched his head thoughtfully
| grumbling: Don't know as wan
the old gal kickip' the bucket righ
here and now, but what in tarnal crea
tion's feller goin' ter do fer her? Oh
gosh! know!" He boIted across The
road. sending up choking cloud O
powdery soil, and burst into the store
"Say, Ike. yer got any mrstard?' ht
demanded; "old Wawaga's done drunk
all my coal oil, an guess it's goin
ter kill her! Don't yer hear thai
screechin'T' Ike Dempsey reused from
his midday nap, rubbed his eyes and
stretched himself, then rising deliber
ately from the cracker barrel, and
thrusting his quid into one cheek
drawled, lazily: 'sWal, now, where's
the hurt eff the OF sot do gin us the
shake? Oh, doan't be in er rush naow
1, guess there's q can er mustard
raound some whersr Reaching long,
lazy arm under the counter. he clst-
tered among his possessions and
brought up a fistful Of yellow-brown
dust. This here nuff? Never mind
payinr'8 In two minutes more Pete
Oberlin laid violent hands on the roll
ing heap Of agony in his cabin, and
sternly commanded: Drink this
here" She drank it, Then the from
tiersman dragged her bodily outside
the shanty, and left her alone with
her misery. W
After some time Pete returned to
his patient, bearing tin plate with a
generous share of his dinner. He
presented this with flourish, and
grinned alphabetically as the morsels
OF food disappeared
When the shadows of the blue gums
stretched long and gaunt to the east
ward and mellow pink flushed the
tops of the grand, distant mountains, q
tipsy and squalid old dsquaw, in tattered
blanket, traiied slowly up the dusty
road through the foothills; and for six
months neither Ike Dempsey, nor Pete,
nor even Pat Grogan at the saloon,
saw any more Of Wawaga.
r. When Pete Oberlin reached up to the
shelf behind the stove that night, and,
after feeling vainly around in the
darkness, strucka match and examined
the surface, he let forth volley of
oaths that would have shocked the
ears of mule driver. finishing up
wrathfully with: .'Wisht I'd let the
old thief die afore ever she got away
with my hand-carved briarwood pipe"
Week after week, Pete Oberlin, in
his capacity of mail carrier, logged
over the dusty plain, wound in and out
the foothills. with q stop here
and there at the ranches, and climbed
over the ridge to the fort on the reser-.
vation. always the destination Of the
biggest part OF his budget.
After the early rains had carpeted
the bare brown hills with green and
given glossier tinge to the mournful
bark-stripped eucalyptus, he began to
hear ugly rumors on his trips from
to farmhouse. There had
not been an Indian outbreak for twen-
ty years in that section, but some dis
1uieting influence was hard at work
IN the redskins. Some said the Indian
Messiah was coming, others that one
Of Geronimo's lieutenants had been
sowing this excitement among them;
be that as it may, there was watchful
anxiety at the fort and growing feel
ng of danger in the breasts OF the
ranchmen. Every bit of
this came, of course, to the ears of the
nail carrier, and, in the snug barroom
If the Oasis, he would regale a little
xnot of cronies with highly-colored l
,ales of the secret dances, the weapons
md war preparations to be seen in
Wild hooks in the hills, if a white man
xnew where to look for them. Yet for
Ill these notes of warning no one
Of an actual dangerous up
Using.
One soft winters night, when the
rain-wind blew heavily
rom the south and the low-hung cloud
blanket shut out every wee ray of sun
light, dark mounted, figures met in a
,heltered hill basin. Ten, twenty,
ifty, they gathered; then in single file,
With muffied hoofs, they wound away
rom their prison. Several hours later,
Is the mischievous band stealthily
made its way out on the plain, a stunt
ID figure, in a ragged blanket, shrunk
silently into the bushes to let the cav
llcade pass, and then emerged once
more from her cover and struck into
'winging trot in the rear Of the swift
moving riders
A faint. angry flush of dawn peeped
,ver the somber mountains as the red
kin braves surrounded the few scat
ering buildings composing Rush Sta
ion. A dog barked in the rear Of the
aloon, and in response q sharp re-
,ort rent shudder through the chill
,,,,rn;no air. with n howl of anguish