The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1897-10-20
little about sheep as Brick himself.

little about sheep as Brick himself.
and the proprietor found opportunity
to break the monotony Of camp life by
occasional trips to the railroad and
once to San Francisco.
"I'm going to see my friend Mar
tin," he told the boys. "Now, tend to
business and don't let any get away"
And tho boys gave their word that not
one should escape. Z
During Whalen's absence in the city
be went out Of the sheep business even
more abruptly than he went into it the
previous autumn. The instruction to the
boys was fulfilled to the letter. Not any
got away. --
1t happened on a hot day in June
when, contrary to the usual custom, the
boys brought the flock to camp and the
shade Of sheds at noontime, 1t never
rains in that arid region, but sometimes
pours. This was one of those times.
Charged with ice aud water, a great
black cloud came drifting down the
wind and emptied ont its load upon the
camp and the hillside above it. The
SNAHS aug OAOuAu u UdSC, xO11uSu
an cave trough for the whole mountain
and poured several thousand inches of
water into Whalen's %improvised sheep
sheds. The food very soon subsidized,
but when the cloud had passed and the
sun again shone forth there were no
living sheep. Not many minutes are
required to drown a rat in q hole.
Meanwhile the boys, greatly fright
ened by the sudden storm and with no
thought for the safety Of the flock, were
in the shack. The hail pounded and the
wind shook it. Water covered the floor.
"Pray, Billy" said the one on the
barrel.
"No; you do it," he answered from
the table top.
The shack had TO window, and with
the door closed it was pretty dark in
there. When Whalen reached home two
hours later, the floor was still wet and
the boys were yet roosting ON table and
barrel, but outside, in the bright SUM-
light, the ground appeared already al
most dry. A solitary goat stood upon
the shed roof. He had been among the
sheep in the pen.
"You can't keep a good man down
any more than you can a goat" was
Bricks comment or the catastrophe.
While Whalen was working the boys
double time at pulling the wool from
the dead sheep he had the happy
thought of stocking his ranch with
bees. Having money enough from the
proceeds of his wool sale to buy 100
stands, he promptly carried the thought
into effect.
Again he sat down in the door of his
shack to ''double his money"
"This is better than sheep" said be.
"for they herds themselves. And they
are like mules in one thing-you are
liable to get hurt if you fool with EN-"
This wave Of prosperity broke up as
soon as former one had done, for be
had imported a bad case of foul brood,
and within q year the hundred swarns
had petered out. When we went down
there last summer in the interest of a
new company which has taken up the
work of completing the canal, Whalen
gathered the bones out of the old shed
in the cut and hauled them to the rail-
road, where he sold them for fertilizer,
realizing enough to buy two more mules.
With his four mule team he is at work
in the ditch for days wages. Somewhat
grizzled now, and not so brick red Of
hair and whisker as formerly, he is
happy as ever and sanguine that he will
double his money.
"Here's hoping that he may.-G.
II. Dnnham in San Francisco Aroopant