The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1898-12-10
LOST THEIR TON OF GOLD

best Of it, -
Now. so far, they hadn't seen a
Sioux. And the country, rollin' back for
! miles from the river banks, looked as
peaceful as a child with rubber doll.
No trees, no brush, no hills, no nuthtn':
all bein' as level as the palm O. your hand
And yet, as B.<Dingee said. it might be as
thick with Indians as with snakes, for all
you get to see 'em from the yawl. For
they all knew that they was in the Sioux
country at last, and would continue so to
be for a good many hundreds o. miles.
Long Williams even parceled out little
laudanum ont @ the big bottle to each
zone. and they ytowEd IT AWAY IN their
overalls pocket where it could be reached
| handy in case o. trouble. Still, two whole
| days ard one night went by and nothin'
happened. Once they got some fresh
meat cut Of a Land o. antelope that was!
swimnin' the river right in front Of EN-;
but as they dare not tie UP to cook it, it
done en- about as much good as bunch
O. chicken feathers would hungry par
! son.
Them Sioux says Long, have such
a cute little way o. stretchin' Teller out.
and buildin' fire on his belly just to
warm their hands by, that I, for one,
can't get much sleep for thinkin' about
itn
Neither can T. says b. Dingee.
| "'Nor me- says Clute. Hang me If
I've slept a wink since we left the Man
| dams! ~
.'And so the second night come round
| and saw 'em all as wakeful as neighbor-
hood cats. Toward 1 o'clock they seen a
| tiny flare o. light shoot up for minute
off to the south: then it died away again
Pretty soon fainter flame showed fur
| Their down. =.
! They're signallin' says Clute Mullen
| . For US, do you think, Or some other
| poor devils they've seen on land" says
Long, sittin' up.
=" That's as may be- says Clute. But
| We'll tackle the north bank from here out
nevertheless And tackle that bank they
! did. ~
"Now, with the width of the river be-
tween them and the Indians, they begin
| to. feel safer. Long Williams, after foolin'
! with the big whisky key for bit, lay
down again, and this time surprised en-
all by actually goin' to sleep. They coulds
/ hear him snore Pretty soon, too, B. Din
| gees oar quit workin and his head sunk
| down over the side o. the boat. Then
| tellin on 'em at last, and their snores
| sounded like the bass notes OF busted
accordion Meanwhile the yawl just
drifted. Then all of a sudden Clute Null
| len awoke, and, after rubbin' his blood
shot eyes and starin' for a minute, nudged
B. Dingee and says: |
-" Billy, Billy Wake Long, and don't
| forget your pOisOn!' es,-
! "And no wonder.z For a dozen small
| boats filed with Sioux had got en- sur
| rounded, and was town EN- over to the
| south bank, where the balance O. the band
| awaited em. Altogether, it was a COM
| plete surprise; and Long begin to growl:
r" It's the rule o. ccntraries. When we
] watched nothin come; when we quit
watchin,we run agin EN-. It's enough to
! make a Teller sick, but I s'pose we got to
| stand it,
'"rhen all at once he thought O. the
| whisky. He leaned forward and whis-
| Ipered to the others; and what he saia
| made them stare at him like a poor man S
| son at a candy apple Clute's admiration
| finally reached his tongue, anu as the
boat touched the bank he says:
"I'll be hanged, Long, if your head
! amt better'n a rotten turnip any day!
AS for me, I'd "a never dreamed o. such
"a trick-hang me!
| If they don't kill us first says Long,
! ,grabbin' up the key and steppin' out,
well soon be as safe as we was at Con-
| federate.' .. ri
| "Now, just as he'd calculated, he and
his whisky key attracted the whole atten-
tion O. the hundred Sioux. They naturally
| REASONED that Long Williams, by. huggin'
cious possession. And, bein' curious, like
other folks. they'd hardly got back to
4 their tepees and sQuatted in circle be-
fore Long was made to let go o. the keg.
Then, hearin' the stuff swish inside, one
| Or two of 'ern sampled it. In a minute
| more the key was goin' the rounds and
the Indians was smackin' their lips and
| sayin' 'Min-ne-pate-ah, min-ne-pate-a >
which is: the Sioux for frewater, ana
once In while yellin' in a way that made
| the boys hair raise. To their way O.
| Otnkin' they had made a rich haul.
Pretty soon one of 'em, feelin partic-
ularly gay, hit Long over the head with
| NJ,
| best he could, he nevertheless saw comets
| dartin' around for half a minute. But
| he said nothin'; only he looked grim, like
man who's pretty sure his turn will
! come at last. And then a half dozen
more O. the red devils started for 5Clute
| and B. Dingee. But they didn't get
moren half way before they toppled-
toppled clean over, their heads hittin' the
ground hard enough to knock the lodge
! poles out O. plumb. Seem this, the rest
of EN- tried to get up, but only dozen or
so could, and they hadn't gone ten feet
| before they fell over as if they'd just been
sandbagged. The big hook noses o. four
| plo we'd burrows in the ground deep
enough to plant wheat in. All was
| gruntin' like drunken man in the sulks.
( The chief, big, raw-boneds fellow, with
! the fringe of his leggia's made out o.
| white women's hair, rolled his ugly eyes
| toward the boys and give 'em the best
| warwhoop he had left; but it was such a
little one compared to his first yell that
the boys Just grinned in his face. Alto
gether it was most insultin', and the chief
would a given eight years of his best
enigrant killira life to've changed posi-
| lions with the boys for about three min
! utes. But you see, like his whole outfit
| he was as helpless as a drowned cat. For
| you take enough laudanum and mix it
with whisky, and you'll find it powerful
| depressor And Long, in mixin' the thing
| the day before: had conscientiously tried
| to English it-rnake; it 'alf and 'alf.-and
from the way the Indians soon began to
snore it was pretty evident that Longs
i job was provin' a big success. Then Long
say s to Clute:
":Have they all took dose?'
Every one says Clute. 'ceptin' the
| teller they left with the yawl.' In that
case says Long. you two go back and
! fix him, while find the whiskerless gen
tleman that hit me. want to play even
"And while Long grabbed up a war club
and was lookin around. 3. Dingee and
i Clute slipped back to the river and sur
i prised the buck at work in the yawl.
The buck just managed to give one yell,
and then he sunk overheard with no
more life in him than you'll commonly
find in a skinned sturgeon. Then with
Long comm up after a minute or two,
and lookin' as complacent as clerk with
i raised salary, they clambered back in
their boat and once more headed down
j stream. For two hours nobody said
word. Then B. Dingee asked:
:. Think that stuff'll kill EN-, or only
/ put 'em asleep?'
WELL says Long, after thinlxin' bit,
4 IF they was white men I'd say it'ud kill
j ,em, But bedn' Injuns. and Sioux IN
juns at that. I s'Dose they'll get nothin'
II worse than a bad dream. G5&