The Ravalli Republican., 1898-08-03
A DAKOTA HERO.

i
I guess it IS time to strike. .
'.Striko whatI" returned his com
panion, rather surlily.
Look here, )" replied Eric, getting
up from the table where he had
been eating scanty meal OF bread
and green tea, You know we'll
enough what l mean. That fellow
has numbered this claim of Peters
long enough. Many's the talk you
and I have had about it, and we
agreed that if Peters didn't come
back from Ontario mighty quick
and make his title good we woultln t
be put off any longer Peters is
simply a speculator. He doesn t III
tend to settle, and he has put th'~
old man Jacobs on his 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
this-if we don't grab it, some one
elso Will But what's the use Of
talking to you? Whenever there S
anything to be done you We no more
90 in you than an old mule. y
At this outburst Jim exclaimed,
somewhat angrily: well, suppose
it's got to be done It's a Disagree
able job anyway, and never relish
ed it. Peters is q fool or he might
know that sooner or later some one
would be sure to jump his claim,
and, as for Jacobs, | don't care Il
candle ond for him. He's a silent,
sur}y dog, nothing ncighborlile
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 were strong, heavily
built and endowed with that endur
anco which comes to those Injured to
one of the coolest climates in the
world 1t was January, and the
prairie 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 rider S 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 thero only by few stunt
ed willows and young poplars.
Not house or sign of life was
visible, except that now and then
the still, sharp air was disturbed by
a whirring circlct of snoWbirds,
sure forerunncrs 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, the only contents OF which were
a large poplar wood be(stead, No.
cooking stove, with lids badly
cracked, three chairs, an iron pot
and Il 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
Il guess you'd better hurry up,
Eric, and saddle the mules It will
be as much us we can manage to get
there and back before dark y
Thus enjoined, Eric, chuckliny to
think he had at last screwed up jim
to the sticking point, hurried out tc
The log stable behind the shanty,
and hastily saddling the mules the
two men rode Oft They had about
a mile and a half to ride along (.
track rendered smooth and beaten
by the daily tramp OF their mules t,
water. A quarter OF Il mile from
where they left this trail they wouit
come to another shanty similar tt
their own, roughly built Of two lay
CTS 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 lie
raised some potatoes for his ow,
use and kept d few hens in All un
derground henhouse, which utte1
infinite toll he had dug out Peters
who owned the place, was working
at his trade of blacksmith down il
Ontario, and it was generally sup
posed that he kept Jacobs s,,rphrf
in groceries on condition he would
live on the place and keep off gra b
berg.
Edsen had long coveted this 16(
acres which comprised Peters
homestead. But there was certain
unwritten code Of honor in the dis
trict which opposed, on principle
the jumping Of others claims, ani
this had made Wade hesitate abo1!
seizing it. Edsen, however, had NJ
such scruples. He reflected that i
he waited till the disappearance O.