The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1900-09-14

bseAths Aleck might near me- In Httle
while his man lost tho frog of his hook
They raid Il was " wccdless hook. but 1t
tot caakht Ia the pads, Just the same.
They Amt no WeeatcSs hook sure enough,
except one made aud I'm trying to get
Patent on Il Well. the lanswiage that
went over that lake when that man arsked
that guide fNr them frogs was Just won
aerf,}, Aieck swars they WAS hehind him
arninate ssose Hts maa asked sarkastic'
al what brand ct ticker he was drinking.
Then Alcck he said he was as sober as
any dude that ever come out OF Chicago.
and his man said that A,cck was n liar.
Then Aleck got sulkN and turned the boat
round and made for the portage hack into
Mason Lake, and 70 on to the hotel. and
next day the hotel man that gave him his
grub to hang aroundand guide for the
guests, fired him over two counties. A
tree 40 feet high and feet . inches thick
fell or him last winter. UP In Rube
Smiths carp. and mashed him fiatter
than a ladyhug: but that don't gimme back
my tohacker.
''They's a funny tree right back of us up
on the hill there YOU couldn't find 1t UNI
less took you to It. but it's a wonder. 1,
stands 325 rods from where we are sit
ting. northwest by north ] run against IL
one day when I was out hunting for
wasps nests They amt no bait for bass
like young wasps some times Of the yea,
The tree is silver birch, and 1t amt
morn three inches through. I noticed 1t,
because about foot and a half from the
ground there was a blaze on 1t two inches
square, like some Teller had done it with
an axe. I didn't see what blaze was
ATT No. 49,, I<,p hmm a
there weren't no trail anywhere near. and
went up to have look at It, Maybe you
won't believe me when tell you that 1t
had thirty-three porkypine quilts sticking
in 1t, just like little arrers. never see
anything like that before, and hung
around for an hour waiting to see some
more. knowed the porkys was up to
something. Bimeby 1 see two come out of
the woods. waddle up to the tree and then
waddle away from 1t about two yards,
measured the distance afterward. and l,
was six feet two inches.
They looked at one another a minute
and seemed to be arguing about some
thing. They were just plain black porky
pines, and see that their quilts was thin
ner than they eughter be. Finally one OF
'em switches hisself around until he was
jerk and quill went flying and stuck In
the tree, half irch above the blaze and
quarter inch to the left. The other ore
sorter snickered, took his posish and land
ed inside the blaze, an inch below the cen
ter. They was shooting at mark-that's
what they was doing-but what they had
bet on it don't know. and if knew
would not tell, as the song says.
no
looked sorter mad and tried another shot
He got pretty close TO the center, hut the
other one beat him with bnll'seye. The,
tried another shot apiece, but the little
one won again. He sorter danced ahou.
on two legs for minute or two, and then
the big one gathered him. Say you never
see any leaves ny like them leaves few
There was cloud OF 'em whirling about
and In the center of the cloud was the
two porkvs. The little orc wasn't SO
strong as the big one. but he was scienced
for keeps. I never see a little Teller fight
like he did. Three times tic big one got
him down. and three times he broke
away, and the way they slung the quilts
into each other was orful You could
a-heard EN- rattle auarter.nile awav.
"At last the little one give a l,alf-whirl
jumped foot high. passed over the big
ones back, lit six inches from him, half
turned and scck.d his teeth into his throat
where no quilts don't grow. Say, 1T was
Katy bar the door then. The big one let
out squeal like a young pig, and in half
minute he keeled over on his side and
lay still. He didn't have life enough left
In him to roll up into ball. He just died
dead The little one looked at him for
while. then he went over and looked a,
the mark they had been shooting at. He
sorter sized up the posish OF the uutlla
sticking In It, and then he went away,
could a-killed him with club, but /
didn't have the heart to Go it. He sure
was game little fighter. When that fight
ended them two porkys didn't have
dozen quills apiece on 'em that growet
there They had used up most OF their
ammunition reefing the sharp pints into
each other. The one that lived looked like
he had been in wind that blowed tik
qutlls the wrong way, and the other one
what was dead just bristled with 'em. n
amt no use for people to tell me q porky
can't throw his quilts. because see 'em
do It and do 1t mighty accurate Eff I
could shoot as straight according to my
size. wouldn't have'to guide nobody for
living. The dead one weighed five
pounds and three ounces
And talking about bass and porkypines
] see some looms do funny trick once. /
was over on Little Price lake trying for
some California trout the fool government
put in there to feed the muskies bout Ave
years ago. They's lots OF looms on Little
Price because of the small fish in 1t. I
was late starting back, and twilight had
got plumb into moonlight afore 1 took up
u. = -. ~ -