The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1901-01-03


a0od Down Barnaby Rapids
the Iron tinted waters were pour
Ing, leaping over the rocks IN
waves two feet high and of the colo- of
dark mOlasses candy. Each white fringed
and ebon at bottom. they danced in rout.
Fergy the guide shot the boat into
stlller place made by a small indentation
Of the shore. drove the butt Of hickory
pole into a crevice Of the stony bottom
and 20 held the craft. standing half
cronched ia the stern. the upper part of
the pole under his arm.
"Red eyes IA here" re said briefly feel
ing in his trousers pocket for hunk Of
black tobacco. and the other man made
his cast
Il brung a feller here onst' Fergy
said. an he were a preacher fom Bos-
ting Had on 1900 wuth o. clothes an
a rod wat must a cost a millyun. Hooked
a arf-poun red-eye. tainted rom egsite-
ment an fell out Rolled 80 yard S inches
/ downstream, fas You never see no
w'eel 20 roun' like wat that feller went
roun' let m boat drif an feeshed him
out: packed him four mile 70 camp on
my back; stuck him ag inst tn fire an
dried him. He had 'n0ugh Flambeau
wattuh In him to float a raf o. twenty
i've mliyun feet an Il took him long
time tc dry. Wien be come to he arsked
4 me ef / couldn't so back an I'M his rod.
/ said--
"what did you say?' the other man
inquired with some show Of interest.
''But that Amt wat makes me reckiec'
III place Five year ago. ur thereabouts,
I they useter be roun here m mos strang-
es' mink wat ever hunted fresh. he
weren't 20 might big n Flambeau
mink. bout fifteen poun' ur 50. but he
were colored funny Minks is black. ur
mighty near black. In gin'rui, an that's
all m color they got, but this here mink
were striped. He had yeler rings roun'
+ him. rings bout tn color O. walnut leaves
wen th fros' has hit EN- hard, an he
( were purity TO- look az. He were better
outside n he were inaide. howsofneever.
Like yuther minks ne lived on feesh.
but he weren't content with eatn' his
belly FUN an goin' sleep. Fus' on. he
killed all he wanted 70 an let tn bodies
float way. an wen he got tired O. kill
in then he went 70 eatin
Ills range were fr q arr mile up n
down IN river an he ruint nve good holes
4 fr me. ia bring m fellers out an tell
H
sure. an they don ketch no bass. an
they say I'm liar. an 4 know Il ain
no lie IT'S mink. I git sight o. this here
rufiln onst by lyin' with my belly on tn
bank an my chin on m aideg D. rock
fr three hours. J see him swimmin
Slow. He'd been KILN an eatin an
couldn' a-swum fas e he'd wanted 10.
counted tn rings They WAS ten o. EN-.
sh' broades IN " middle. an I says to
m se'f says j. shore you ain humaur
ain never been run out'n no country
BY no mink yit. howsomever. an I laid
rr him
wow. ! knows m'nks rom way up 4
way down. They has one hole 20 20 in
az an nriher ho.e G. come out at. same's
a rabbits Sometimes they has 10 ar five
holes. an they ain no sense IN tryin' T.
I git en- thasaway. Narhully you cain
nm en- walkin' roun' huntin' rr you SOS
I you kin kin 'em. Like ev'ry yuther an
mul though. theys got places they likes
( bes. wat you call runways You An III
runway an sets your traps an II III
mlnk's human you'll git him Thus reads
FiLeid lWisD letter TO the New York
SUM-
II been trappin on"n on. f'r fifteen
! year. an mos times ! JUS lever have
bin traps a bat trap. A blin trap
is trap sunk leetle nn'er IN ice. ur
snow. Minks mar nothin' cain smell
through ice ur snow. Well, ] tried both
on him baited With feesh un'er wat
tuh an long m bank haited with eel;
balted with inushrat. an minkn JUS
ne down an cry hisse'f sick with JOY
ef you oifer him mushrat. Lynn out
rom un'er kiver IN these here damned
winters lookin AZ them traps I ketch
lumbiggy an pnemony. an consumshua
an bronhtty. an neuralagy. an out
groWin t0enails an broken heart an
evry thing thls side O. Hudson Bay.
'cep' mink. 7 wore out six canthooks
an forty peavies an a spade I borrered
rom knuf knutson's shack. intendiu' I,
return Il some day. diggln holes fr bliu'
traps an 7 DON gt no mink ] says
to m'sef, says ]: You ain hunanr
"FiHeriy, I says TO mse'f. IF You
goi more sense n wat 7 got. Z got more
strenk n wat you got Yea know traps
an you know hi bottom O. an Flam-
beau like wat I know th' trail 'rom
III Chip'wa res'v walton back T. w'ie
mans home says l. but you don know
dyIern'tc
They we're : shack down near th Big
Drive on tn Chipwa river were some
feilers been blastin' in ih summer an
falL They had went away an ler this
shack hlled with bout leyen hunderd
poun o. dynermite hopln' it'd be struck
by lighnin', s'pese. Nobody Ga an that
hentry couldn' be hired 10 90 near II.
Now. 7 siep' with dynermite. ma he
pliers oufn sticks o t. I drnther nave
It aroun IN a fool wat smokes Gig reefs /
an blows his breath in your face. Ef
? gotter die ] wanter die sudden al
painless an scattered. 50 ] hikes
~ hikes sixty miles IN hye hours. Or
nebbe Eve an a arr hours. an then I
hits the neighb0rhood were this shack
were. The huh popiNtion O. sixteen. ar
mebbe eighteen souls Hal skipped RI fear
O. that dynermife. foun' IN shack an
right an ] broke cDen 10 door with 4
rock. an there were N stun piled up az
high as mans breas' IN q 2lx20 room.
7 lifted out forty poun' o. O.. near e
could guess. an' packed Il % a sack an
nung * over M shoulder. an then hiked
hack. Cittin throueh "a woods Is m.
rinrnh dark with q hau a. -ufa.- .s-..l