Arizona republican., 1904-03-07

up or laid it down, aSSumin' it was empty, 1t made a noise like a mule fall in through a skylight. Then when you , hung it up with the cap off, which is necessary to give the water chance to cool a little, the wind would whistle and sigh end howl by turns till it would freeze your blood at hundred yards, and I called that old cantsen Resurrection because 1t would wake the dead
 Well this was Saturday, and it was to be old 'Resurrections last trip to camp, for we had agreed that bein's the next day was Bert's bithday, we would have little shootin' match, and old Res as we called her for short, would be the target.
 "Now, this Saturday, as usual on that particular day, Bert quit an hour early ard went down to camp to get what quality people would call dinner bue we called it supper, and I quit about two hours early considerin' it was Saturday, and started home. My pick was dull so I took it along. I had that pick over my shoulder and old Resurrection was hangin' on to it be- hind me. I was walkin along the side of the steep hill thinllin' of the good old bacon and the bakin' powder flap jacks and the gravy-you know what we called it-and ] was thinkin' what we would do when we sold the Jumpin' Jehosaphat, and old Resurrection was maxim a record all this time. She was empty, of course, and the braces was a rattlin' and the little breeze was performin' and a blue tail fly had ex- plored her internals to his sorrow and L |. wet wings. and I was about as near happy as I had ever been since I left my beloved Mandy back in old Missou- ri, when I got an indefirable hunch to look up.
 "I Obeyed the hunch, and there in the middle of the trail. not four feet away was a mountain lien as big as an iron clad it seemed to me. and much better prepared for immediate action Tail swaying, eyes burning, claws working, all f1attened out on the ground, ready to make a raw Ham, burger of yours truly-Don't care if I do take another modest nip; them mem ories make me nervous-Well for one palpitatin instant l stood glued as the novels say. and the next I intu- itively-that's a good word, ain't it?- y'-Sr lii'- iltAN lillllllNtly DIOuSHl lily pick down on the monsters head and as did so I thought a battleship had blown up and that the fragments were rainin' down. Of al the hideous. q a. bolical and unspeakable bedlams ever hearl that took the stack of tortillas.
 with a shrielt that would freeze the contents of a slag pot, that lion bounded up the hill and my only dan
  fled brute passed out of sight over the summit.
 "Then I turned to old 'RESURREC- TONI always spell that name in big letters since that l realized that I was too far away to strike that brute with a pick, but that Resurrection had done the work. I pressed the old can teen to my heart and cried like a re- deemed soul. Tn the exuberance of gratitude, I even tried to rescue that fly, but the concussion had been too much for him. I bore old Resurrec- | ton home and hung her on project | ing rafter on the bear grass covered | shack, there to dangle and sing and | whizz and howl and moan and | screech and rattle at her own free will, | and every sound she made was music 1 in my ears, for I knew no lion would | venture near that dump.
 And after the jacks have mingled | with the sand and gravel of the his | toric HASHYHAMP, old Res" will be | hangin' on the head board of my | peaceful bunk, and in the language of | or whoever it was, she is . immortal, immutable, indestructible | and everlastin.'
 "Yes, I'll just take a small one
 "You bet your life. kid. I'm q 'Assyamper. FRANK ALLEY"