The Kinsley graphic. [volume] (Kinsley, Kan.) 1890-1940, 1903-05-15

older, while have been aging. Well,
things promise well, for it might have
been laid waste by forest fire, or
cut down and a town built on the
| site. Matters are not so bad as
might be. You will come out ahead
think, Job, from the appearance of
things"
He began to walk more slowly now,
and occasionally paused to consider,
rubbing his nose thoughtfully the
while, as he examined the trees and
bushes with the keen interest of a
naturalist. 1t was in one of these
stops that, looking up, he saw some
thing that drew a startled exclama-
ton from his lips. 1t was a bit of
red flannel futtering from the limb
of a maple.
The sight of such an unimportant
object seemed to worry him greatly,
then he drew near the bushes that
lined the edge of the road like
green wall, and, pushing them aside,
plunged into the underground.
81 would just as leave not have
such people nosing about" he NUT
L
| than to interfere with my work"
He forced his way through the thick
est of the underbrush and entered
| little glade in the midst of which
rose the stump of what must have
been great tree.
| The man smiled at the sight, and,
| waving his hand toward it, said:
BLESS We, old fellow, for standing
| sentinel so long. Your usefulness
by lightning.''
He passed the tree and went on his
| way down one of the aisles of the
| forest which at one time must have
been a wagon road, but was now
| overrun with grasses. Now and then
he paused to reconnoiter and to look
around.
From time to time he smiled and
| nodded his head, as if satisfied that
he was pursuing the right path.
Suddenly, in the midst of his walk,
without warning, sharp shot rang
out and his hat fell to the ground.
He stopped calmly, picked it up and
examined it carefully. "Not a bad
shot," examining, the holes, which
had evidently been produced by
buckshot. ga little nearer and I
should have had considerable of a
headache" and, replacing the hat on
his head, without even stopping to
look for his assailant, he continued
on his way, turning neither to right
nor left.
e
a greenhorn," he said to himself.
''He must be demonstrated with be-
fore go any further. 1 might stand
a chance of being ported against
when his aim was truer.'
Nothing further happened; the in
visible marksman did not attempt to
repeat his experiment. The little
man had now come to an opening in
the woods. Beyond, to his right, his
sharp eyes detected a slender thread
of smoke drifting lazily up through
the warm air, and it was in this di-
rection that he now bent his steps.
Entering little glade he saw be-
yond him what seemed to be the
foundations of a house rooted over
with old tarpaulins and bark. 1t
was out of a hole in this roof that
the smoke was drifting, and which
had attracted his attention.
There seemed to be no opening
to this building, but near the front
wall, set in the ground, was a square
slab of wood like the covering to a
well.
Without a moments hesitation he
lifted this, disclosing a burrowlike
hole that evidently communicated
with the interior of the place. Care
fully he climbed down into the hole,
and, passing through dark passage,
found himself in a cellarlike room
feebly lit and filed with the sitting
smoke of the green boughs with
which the fire had been fed.
"Ahoy, there Anybody at home?"
for, in that light, there was no hui
man being visible.
Then, what he had taken to be a
bundle of fagots lying by the fire,
seemed to become suddenly endowed
with life, and finally resolved itself
into the form of a little woman,
bent with age, who came hobbling
forward with surprising agility.
''You know me, MOTHER" bending
his head down near to hers for a
moment, while she examined his fea-
lures keenly and then passed with
cred hand over his face.
eyes, Will, know you. What do
you here?"
1T matters not" roughly. "And.
let me tell you, I am not to be ported
like bird by your people. Just
now, as 1 was coming through the
woods, some one fired on me-"
1T will not happen again." she
said. timidly. ct is the youngster;
he is new and has much to learn"
ut will be well if you tell him there
are lessons I can teach him that are