The Meeker herald. [volume] (Meeker, Colo.) 1885-current, 1904-03-12

Trail anu presently old Tom BrOphy
followed him.
Where goin. TOMB" called Big
| Dan.
"Walkin'" answered Tom. Which
was plainly the truth.
Three hours later Tom came back
and the tramp was with him. He
put the wanderer. to bec az his own
bunk. Then he came out and sat
down with the rest about the fire.
He's bughouse." raid Tom. list
plum crazy. He runs away from the
asylum down to Milwaukee and he's
been chasin' himself through the
woods now for nigh three months. I
comes up with him back there in the
woods and him and me has quite an
argument. Finally he agrees to come
back here with me, an I'm goin' to
take him to town in the mornin'.
Thought they was somethi2' queer
about him In the fust place. An
knowed that no sane teller'd start OF
down that trail liks he did, without
any grub or any place to go to-"
The Chicago nan kept getting new
LIS on old TOMS character almost
'ese. y 'aay. " course there was an
other side to It. too. In the spring.
when Tom came out Of the woods
with couple of hundreds Of hard
earned dollars In his mackinaw. he
WAS wont to get beastly drunk and
to remain in that condition until both
his money and his credit were ex.
hausted. 1t usually took all the sum
mer to get the whiskey bills paid. But
they were always paid. exorbitant
as they usually were.
One hot July afternoon old Tom
was peeling hemlock bark at peel
ing camp four miles from the shack
Four miles In the opposite direction
was the Rawlins cabin, where three
women and small boy lived alone
in. the woods. Presently Tom, look
ing up, saw thin column OF smoke
rising high above the trees in the
direction Of the Rawlins place. He
watched 1t for = few minutes and
saw 1t grow larger and blacker. Then
he took of his shoes. stripped on
most Of his clothes and started on a
heavy run through the deep sand of
the trail which led to the Rawlins
claim.
Four miles through the sand on q
hot afternoon is pretty strong exer-
else for man of 30, but Tom was
still full Of vigor. When he got near
enough to see that the fire was get.
ting close up to the Rawiins cabin on
the west, the three women were out
doing their best to stop the IRE with
buckets of water.
Tom grabbed an az and cut down
half dozen small trees which stood
close to the cabin. Then he started
the women carrying water in buckets
from the lake, while he stood close
to the roaring flames and put 1t where
1t would do the most good.
1t seems = foolish thing for = single
man to attempt to conquer = forest
IRE. with whole birch and hemloek
trees wrapped In pillars OF hame all
about him. But that was exactly
what old Tom did, with . coolness
ari skill that wasted no drop OF wa
ter. He fought that hre until his
whiskers were half burned away. and
MS haSoy oceWSCA bW0AS 0uu AAAiiAS
cinders, was as black as that of
negro. He scorched Ills bare feet
hundred times by stepping ON the
still hot trunks of fallen trees. and
the gray shirt on his back was
burned through in half dozen places.
!, And, incredible though 1t seem, he
conquered it. Towards the last. two
or three other men came in over the
trails and helped him put out the
smoldering embers and soak the
ground to a depth of several feet SO
that the IRE should not be carried un.
der the surface by the burning roots.
But it was old Tom who really fought
the battle and won It.
And now" he said finally to the
Rawlins women, eff you'll fix me a
bunk some'ers Ill sleep here tonight.
SOS you needn't be scared about no
fire Dustin out again"
You see, old Tom Brophy is moth
ing but dirty and disreputable old
lumber jack. Really, 1t would spoil
ones reputation to have anything to
do with him.-Chicago Tribune.