Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1904-04-15
tice and tack M their own as noise

IlCe anu JACK up tnelr OWN as nOlSe-
lessly as possible. Then he was to
stand guard beside the sign Of their
possession until morning Pete would
do the same on the other claim.
"And what if somebody comes
snorting around here and wants to
clean me out?" asked Josiah.
well, the law gives a man the right
to defend his property in the certain
est way he knows how, and that's my
best gun you've got in your belt there
replied Pete, as he felt his way into
the little trail which led to the other
claim, half mile away over the hill.
Josiah found his vigil growing te-
dious rapidly. He feared to move
about in the darkness, lest he should
lose the tree, and he had been advised
not to disclose his presence to chance
providers by striking a light. For
the same reason he checked half-in-
voluntary impulse to whistle. He slid
to the ground, with his back against
the tree, and occupied himself with
thinking over all he had heard about
the half-breed, who would own the
very ground upon which he was sit
ting for more than two hours to come.
Surprising Henry Flatfoot should take
notion to visit the claim while 1t
still belonged to him? Who would be
the intruder then, and on whose side
would the law be? Josiah moved his
big foot, and the cracking of a twig
beneath it startled him and set his
heart to beating.
The darkness was so intense that
Josiah could see as little with his eyes
open as with them shut. He could not
see the hand on his crooked-up knee,
and he could not see his right hand,
which somehow, seemed comfortable
only when it rested upon the butt OF
the revolver swung loosely in his
leather belt. Many the night when
he had followed the dogs at run in
the bottoms along the Mississippi until
the 'possum was freed and the axes
could be swung to fell the perch, but
he had not supposed that night, when
neither snow nor rain was falling,
could be as dark as this. Clouds hid
every star. In shifting his position
he was delighted to discover a glow
worm. He seized the insect and, draw
ing up his cowhide shoes, smeared
phosphorus on the toe of each. He
could now follow the motion Of his feet
when he moved them and he felt more
collected.
With limbs numb from sitting so
long in this posture, Josiah pulled out
his watch in haste. Surely it was al
ready past midnight The long hand
but an angle separated the short hand
from it. 1t was II o'clock. If Henry
Flatfoot were coming to try to save his
claims he would arrive during the next
hour. Josiah tried to keep thoughts
Of the desperate Indian out of his mind.
The night had been very still. Sudden
ly the brush cracked slightly. Josiah
found when all was silent again that
he had unconsciously risen to his feet
and was supporting himself with one
hand against the tree while in the
other he gripped his revolver. 1t was
only rabbit moving in the chemise,
of course. He restored the weapon to
its place and sank down again. After
a time a sound in the brush off to the
he convinced himself that only toad
could make such wee noise, though
1t had sounded loud enough at first.
When a strange night bird cried out
he did not move or touch his gun, and
he told himself that he had banished
his silly fears. The night was cold,
but somehow he did not feel the chill.
During the last half hour before mid
night Josiah held his watch on his
palm. and with his fingers followed the
long hand as It mounted the dial. Any
body would know that if the half
breed Henry Flatfoot were coming to
prevent his location notice from being
torn down he would not have waited
until so late to come.
Josiah could feel his palm perspiring
beneath the cold case of the watch
when at last both hands were squarely
upon the figure H. In a moment he
was upon his feet ripping the half-rot-
ten cloth sign from its place upon the
tree. The new piece Of cloth foot
whether right side or wrong side to the
bark he neither knew nor thought,
and began to drive in tacks with his
heavy pocket-knife. The sound Of the
hammering was like the laundering
of a stamp-mill to him, and yet his
ears caught that cautious sound in the
chemise. He dropped his knife and
drove in the rest of the lacks with the
sheer strength OF his callous fingers.
Then he dropped to the ground upon
his knees and waited.
The quiet was absolute. Yet Josiah
knew that the sound he had heard was
not made by rabbit or by a toad.
Something a good deal larger than
either had moved in the brush within
100 feet of him. He was on his own
ground now, but somehow he was more
nervous than before. Tensely he
waited. At last 1t came again, just as
II