Hot Springs weekly star. (Hot Springs, S.D.) 1892-1917, 1902-01-17
VII.

AS soon as Mrs. Hardy had arrived all
their neighbors came over to Call, and
very friendly intercourse was quickly es-
tablished between them. AS there was
no spare bedroom at Mount Pleasant,
some hammocks were made, and hooks
were put into the sitting room walls, SO
that the hammocks could be slung ut
night and taken down in the morning.
The English party always rode back to
Canterbury, as the distance was So short.
and the Jamicsons generally did the
same; but Messrs. Percy, Williams and
Markham usually came over in the after
noon and rode back again next morning.
Upon Sunday morning Mr.. Hardy had
service, and to this the whole of their
friends generally came. 1t was held early,
so that the Jnmiesons and the English
men could ride back to their homes be-
fore the heat of the day, the other three
remaining to dine. and returning in the
cold of the evening. Canterbury was en-
tirely Il sheep and cattle farm. The own
crs had five thousand sheep, and some
hundreds of cattle; but they had COM
p%aratively a good deal of time upon their
hands, as stock and sheep farming does
not require SO much personal care and
supervision rs must be bestowed upon az
ricultural farms. The Jamiesons, on the
contrary, We're entirely occupied in till
lage; they had 10 sheep aud only Il few
head of cattle.
Mrs. Hardy was r%emarking upon this
one day to sIrs. Percy, who replied, "Ah,
the poor fellows are very unfortunate.
They brought out a fair capital, and had
as large n stock of sheep and cattle as
fl,n n ,,tn,,1,,r,, rt@, hoyn &I.,A -.
months, however, before you arrived the
ried off every animal they had. That
puts n in mind, Hardy, of a matter
upon which l had intended to speak to
you. We are just getting now to the
time of the year when Indian attacks are
most likely to take place. Sometimes they
are quiet for u year or two. then they
are very troublesome again. Five or six
years ago, just after L first came out,
we had terrible times with them. Vast
numbers of cattle were driven off: the
sheep they less seldom take, because they
cannot travel so fast, but they do drive
them off sometimes. You are now the
fnrthest settler, and consequently the
most exposed. Your cstancia is strong
and well built, and YOU are all well arm
ed and good shots. You are, l think,
in that respect, safe, except from sudden
surprise. The dogs are sure to give an
alarm: still l should sleep with every
thing in readiness"
This conversation caused Mr.. Harry
great uneasincss. 1t was Il possibility ht
had been quite prepared for; but he could
not feel that the danger was really at
hand withopt an anxious feeling. His
thousand sheep had cost him twelve hun
drcd and fifty dollars, and his cattle as
much more. The lambing season had
come and gone, and the flock of sheep
had doubled in number. The cattle, too,
had greatly increased, and the sheep
were nearly ready for shearing. Alto
gethcr the value OF the stock was over
five thousand dollars. The loss would not
be absolute ruin, as he had still three
thousand dollars of his original capital
in the bank at Buenos Ayres; but it
would be a very serious loss.
Mr.. Hardy told the boys as much as he
thought proper of the state of things.
and gave them their instructions. The
girls, who had no idea there was any real
danger, and who had besides an unlimit-
ed confidence in their father mi BROTH
ers, We're disposed to look upon it as fun,
and Mr.. Hardy had to speak quite. seri-
ously to be sure that his orders would be
strictly attended to. A box had been
placed in the storeroom on the upper
floor Of the tower, and the boys We're
given screwdrivers and hammers to open
it. The establishment of all was un-
bounded to find that it contained four
dozen large rockets and a dozen blue
lights. One dozen of these rockets were
ordinary signal rockets, but the rest were
covered with strong tin cases.
"Fireworks!", they all exclaimed in in
tense surprise. "What have you brought
fireworks all this way for, papa:"
cill tell you, my dears. knew
that tie Indians of the pampas were
horse Indians. and the idea struck me
that as they could " have seen rock.
ets. thu would be horribly scared at
ehem. Rockets you know, are
VAR: and even II the riders are
kened. It 10 quite certain that the
prTibSy alarmed ~ one