Mower County transcript., 1903-10-21
' .n+T ~ Il ~ !.
CHAPTER IL

CHAPTER IL .,r.a,s....e.gazs.
The whole village knew before bed
time how Shickshack had threatened
the stranger. A community cf interest
as swift ,as the telephone carried news
the length of the winding street.
"Shickshack screeched loud enough
to be heard at Wolf" gasped Mahala
Cameron, telling the tale to her folks,
"and drew his knife and jumped at the
man like Wildcat"
'And Abe Lincoln and the other
boys caught him. put in Martha. Bell
.Clary, assisting her. "The mans horse
and the mail-carrier's +. horse both
reared up-they were scared nearly to
death like the rest of us! But just
as soon as the boys caught hold Of
shickshack he dropped his head and
stood like he was ashamed" ~ - T.
Hes a live Indian yet," said Ma
hala Camerons father. Hell stir him.
self and take scalp one of these days,
wonder what he had against the
stranger"
Rutledge's tavern entertained rare
travellers who stayed over night in
New Salem. The candles were all put
out early, yet before folks covered their
fires they had in some way absorbed.
the facts about, the new ARRIVAL He:
was well-spoken man with d. for:
eign twist to his t6ngQe,s inclined to
laugh at the rage of Shickshack,; whom
he: knew very well. He told openly
that he was Don Pedro Lorimer, "a
sugar planter from theStslanda Of Cuba,
and that his errand through the states
was political in the main; though he
intended when other matters pressed
him less, to remove his half wild young
cousin, Consuelo .Lorimer, from the
care of the Indian, who had taken. ad-,,
vantage of her fathers death on the.
plains to adopt her.
A tropical sun had given him the
darkest skin ever carried by white;
man around New Salem He walked
abroad in the early morning, and hav-i
ing had Shickshack's closed house:
pointed out to him, stood and looked
at it smiling, without attempting to:
enter. . - ..5.', .,i'4>
The Indian and his adopted daughter
= were not seen abroad during that day,
though both of them were accustomed
to live outdoors at all seasons. Shick-
shack said he loved to see the deer
galloping in the bottoms, or to watch
them as they gathered in herds, the
sun shining in their eyes. IT
New Salem was single long and.
winding street on high ridge, which!
sloped SO suddenly on both sides that
all the gardens ran down hill Seen
from the schoolhouse, it looked like
a huge wave of earth riding against
the northern horizon. The school,
house, standing at the base Of another
ridge, was divided from the village by
deep ravine, through which ran a
small stream called Rock creek. ',''; ,
The schoolhouse was the only meet
ing place. Its log stack and white clay
chimney represented church, town hall
and theater-if so goddess place as 4
theater had been allowed-in New
Salem. 1t was headquarters ON mus
ter days, and the arena of those wordy
wars which the pioneers called de-
bates. Eager to hear any strange, new
thing, the whole town flocked across
Rock creek as soon as candles began
ITO bloom like primroses at dusk in
boot-shaped sconces on the schoolhouse
walls. 1t might be that the cousin of
Shickshack's girl had not as much to-
say as he had given out that he had.
But New Salem would hear him and
Judge. Minter Grayham's pupils-par-
ticularly the smaller ones-were lined
up on front benches, which their own
long use had worn to the smoothness
OF glass. The stranger had advertised
through their schoolmaster that he
would give the prize of book to any:
boy or girl who could, at the close of
the lecture, stand up and spell cor
rectly the word Ompompanoosuck!
Unusual war had ragged on the play
ground at both recesses and noon con-
corning the spelling of this word.
Camps divided to play Indian or horse
thief met to wrangle over combina-
hons OF letters. Some sly ones who
thought they were going to get the
prize retired to puzzle alone. Minter
Grayham, who thought modest
amount of spelling, the Testament, the
English Reader and the Rule of Three
in arithmetic to advanced scholars.
was In honor obliged to look as igno-
rant as he felt in this great matter.
Some women saw with CONSERVATION
that the boys from Clary's grove were
gathered on the back seats, couple of
dozen young Williams, whose leader.
Redmond Clary, was the most desper-
ate rider in the Sangamon country.
The gravest charge brought against
these uncurbed youths was their deter
mination to govern the community.
In them the life of the frontier found
its widest expression When one OF
them had a colt to break he sum
moned the others, and they forced It
into the Sangamon river. One sat on
its back, another hung to its tail and
the rest clung about and hampered it
IN every way: The untamed thing,
obliged to swim for it's life carrying
weight, finally came out of the water
subdued beast. They were ready to