The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1902-07-20

gloom In the doorway Uncle JdZOD
sat whiting a slender biIAt of hick-
DRY into a ramrod for mis- long Hint
lock American rife.
Maybe We know Simon kenton."
said the old man. after he and Bever-
ley had conVersed for a while. seeing
that you are from Kentucky-eh?'
Yes, I do know him well; he's a
warm personal friend OF mine" said
Beverley with quick interest, for it
surprised him that Oncle Iazon should
know anything about KeRten. do you
know him. Monsieur Jazon?"
Onele Jazon winked conceitedly and
sighted along his rudimentary ramrod
to see if ii was straight: then puck
ering his lips. as if on the point of
whistling. made an affirmative noise
quite impossible TO spell
We'll, I'm glad you are acquainted
with KentOn,'' said Beverley Where
did you and he come together"
Oncle Jazon chuckled reminiseently
and scratched the skinless, cicatrized
spot where his scalp had once -four
ished-
''Oh. several places" he answered.
''Ye see thet hair a hangin' there on
the wall?" He pointed at a dry wisp
dangling under log barely visible by
he, he hei'' He snickered as If the
fact were a most enjoyable joke. Isl
mon Kenton can tell We about tibet
little affair, The Indians thought
was dead, and they took nay hair; but
/ wasn't dead; / was just a giyin' 'em
'possum act. When they was gone
| got up from where l was layin' and
| trotted off. My head was sore and
ventrebleul but / was mad, he, he
hei"
All this time he spoke in French. and
the English but poorly parapbrases his
odd turns of expression. His grimaces
and grunts cannot even be limited.
1t was a long story, as Beverley re-
ceived it, told serappily. but with GER
tain rude art. In the end. Oncle Jazon
said with unctiouS administration:
Accidents will happen. 1 got my
chance at that damned Indian who
skinned my head, and L jes' took a
bead on i'm with my old rife. 1 can't
shoot much, never could, but / hap
pened to hit i'm square in the lef' eye.
what I shot at, and it was a hundred
yards. Down he tumbles, and l runs
to i'm and finds my same cid scalp
a hangin' to his belt. Well, / lifted
off his hair with my knife, and united
mine from the belt, and then l had
both scalps, hei he! hei You ask ST.
mon Kenton when ye see i'm. He was
along at the same time. and they made
! i'm run the gauntlet and pretty nigh
| beat. the life out o. i'm. Ventrebleu!"
/ Beverley now recollected hearing
Kenton tell the same grim story by a
campfire in the hills of Kentucky.
Somehow ii had caught a new spirit
| in the French rendering which linked
| it with the old tales of adventure that
he had read in his boyhood, and II
4 suddenly endeared Oncle JaZon to him.
| The rough old scrap of man and
| the powerful youth chatted together
until shutdown, smoking their pipes,
each feeling for what was best in the
other. half aware that in the future
| they would be tested together in the
fire of Wild adventure. Every man is
more or less a prophet at certain points
| in his life.
Twilight and moonlight were blend
| ing softly when Beverley, ON his way
| back to the fort, departing from a
direct course, went along the rivers
side southwark to have few mo-
ments of reflective strolling within
/ reach of the waters pleasant murmur
and the towns indefinite evening stir.
| Rich sweetness. the gift of early au-
| tumn, was on the air blowing softly
! out of lilac west and singing in the
willow fringe that hung here and there
over the bank.
On the farther side of the rivers wide
| flow, swollen by recent heavy rains,
| Beverley saw a pirogue. in one end OF
which 4 dark figure sWayed to the
strokes of a paddle. The slender and
| shallow little craft was bobbing on the
choppy waves and taking a zig-zag
course among floating logs and masses
| of lighter driftwood, while making
slow but certain Roadway toward the
hither bank.
Beverley took bit of punk and q
flint and steel from his pocket, relit his
pipe and stood watching the skillful
boatman conduct his somewhat dan
gerous voyage diagonally against the
| rolling current. 1t was a shifting
hide-and-seek scene. its features APP
pearing and disappearing with the ac-
ton of the waves and the doubtful light
| reflected from fading clouds and sky
Now and again the man stood I'D n
his skittlsh pirOgue, balancing himself
| with care. to use a short pole in show
ing driftwood out OF his way; and
| more than once he looked to Beverley
as if ne had plunged headlong into the
dark water.
The spot, as nearly as 1t can be
fixed. was about 20e yards below where
the public road bridge at present span:
the Wabash. The bluff was then fal
different from what il is now. sleeper
and higher, with less silt and sand be
tween it and the waters edge Indeed
swollen as the current was, a man COui(
stand on the top of the bank and easily
leap into the deep water. AT a poip
near the middle OF the river a grea
mass of drift logs and sand had Ions
ago formed "A barrier which split th'
stream so that one current came heav-
lily shoreward on the side next th'
town and swashed with its mudd,
foam making swirl and eddy just be
low where Beverley stood.
/ The pirOgue rounded the upper angl'
| of this obstruction, not without diff
| Guilty to its crew of one, and sWup;
into the rapid shoTeward rush, as wa
evidently planned for by the steers
man, who now padded against the It'd
with all his might TO keep from beini
borne too far down for a safe landin:
place
Beverley stood at ease idly and hal
| dreamily looking on. when Suddenl.
| something caused a catastrophe, whiel
for a moment he did not comprehend
! In fact the man in the pirogue cam
! to grief. as "A man in a pirOgue is YER.
| apt TO do. and fairly somersaulte'
| overheard into the water. Nothing sc
| rious would have threatened tfor tn
man could swim like an otter) had no
floating. half-submerged log thrus
up some short. stiff stumps of boughs
upon the points of which the MAJ
struck heavily and was not only hurt
but had his clothes inlpaled secured.
by one OF the ugly spears. so that n
hung in helpless position. while tn
submerged him, his arms beating abou