The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1897-12-08
A DAKOTA HERO.

you 1utcuQ " OO al tAo @AAe*e>S~'
Z guess it's time to strike.
'sStrike whatl" returned his COM
panion, rather surlily.
ssLook here" replied Eric, getting
up from the table. where he had
been eating scanty meal of bread
and green tea, you know well
enough what I mean. That fellow
has numbered this claim of Peters
long enough. Many's the talk you
and / have had about it, and we
agreed that if Peters didn't come
back from Ontario mighty quick
and make his title good we wouldn't t
be put off any longer. Peters is
simply speculator. He doesn't in
tend to settle, and he has put this
old man Jacobs nhis place to hood
wink the government. Besides,
what good is Jacobs on it anyway
Peters is doing far too well at his
trade ever to come back. Moreover,
you may bet your bottom dollar on
fhis-if we don't grab il, some one
else will. But what's the use of
talking to your Whenever there's
anything to be done you've no more
ao in you than an old mule"
At this outburst Jim exclaimed,
,Somawhet anprily: stWell, suppose
i4's got to be done. It's disagree
able job anyway, and Ineyer relish
Cd It. Peters is a fool CT he might
know that sooner or later some one
would be sure to jump his claim,
and, as for Jacobs, I don't care a
candle end for him. He's a sileAt
surly dog, nothing neighborlike
about him, and everlastingly prowl-
ing round the prairie searching for
claim corner posts which don't ex-
ist. But if you're for acting we'd
better get the thing over this very
afternoon and have done with it.
This conversation took place in a
small shanty in the state of Dakota.
Both speakers we're strong, heavily
built and endowed with that endur-
ance which comes to those Injured to
one Of the coolest climates in the
world. It was January, and the
urairie was covered with snow 3
feet deep, save where the cutting
wind had swept it into deeper hill
locks, frozen hard enough to bear a
horse and riders weight. The pros
pect from the small window of the
shack was not inviting, the monoto-
nous level of the plain being broken
here and there only by few stunt
ed willows and young poplars.
Not a house or sign of life was
visible, except that now and then
the still, sharp air was disturbed by
whirring circlet of snowbirds,
sure forerunners in that region of a
storm. Above, the afternoon sun
shone brilliantly without imparting
the slightest heat, and as its rays
fell through the window they light
ed up the small, miserable room
where Jim Wade and Eric Edsen
sat, tho only contents of which were
a large poplar wood bedstead, No. 8
cooking stove, with lids badly
cracked, three chairs, an iron pot
and badly battered teakettle.
Having delivered himself of the
above speech, Jim knocked the
ashes out of his pipe and as he
passed out of the door to saw more
wood said:
II guess you'd better hurry up,
Eric, and saddle the mules. It will
be as much as we can manage to get
there and back before dark. Z"
Thus enjoined, Eric, chuckling to
think he had at last screwed up Jim
to the sticking point, hurried out to
the log stable behind the shanty,
and hastily saddling the mules the
two men rode off. They had about
a mile and a half to ride along a
track rendered smooth and beaten
by the daily tramp of their mules to
water. A quarter Of mile from
where they left this trail they would
come to another shanty similar to
their own, roughly built of two lay
ers of slabs with tar paper between,
where lived, or rather existed, the
man Jacobs.
He had been there some six
months now, was old and feeble
and apparently without money. He
raised some potatoes for his own
use and kept few hens in al un-
derground henhouse, which after
infinite toll he had dug out. Peters,
who owned the place. was working
at his trade Of blacksmith down In
Ontario, and it was generally sup
posed that he kept Jacobs supplied
in groceries on condition he would
live on the place and keep off grab
bers.
Edsen had long coveted this 100
acres which comprised Peters
homestead. But there Was certain
code of honor in the dis
trict which opposed, on principle,
the i111n1linr of Others clnims. and