The progress., 1904-02-06

| CIcdu luC Out' uohSu oOoAesAAs
"Well, the law gives 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 intp
the little trail which led to the othe'
claim, half q mile away over the hill.
Josiah found his vigil growing te'
dious rapidly. He feared to now
about in the darkness, lest he shoult,
lose the tree, and he had been advised,
| not to disclose his presence to chanel
prowlers by striking a light. Fol
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
| a 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 or
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 treed 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 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
was undoubtedly pointing straight up,
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 a 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
other side set him a-quiver again, but
he convinced himself that only toad
could make such a wee noise, though
it 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 F1atfoot 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 IL. 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
square he spread against the trunk,
bark he neither knew nor thought
and began to drive in tacks with his
heavy, pocket-knife. The sound of the
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 tacks 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 toad.
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 it came again, Just as
he knew it would. Something or some
body was moving slowly toward the
little clearing, in the midst of which
was the tree beneath which he
,rouched. Two steps, three steps, the
hing would stop, wait in silence, and
hen. come on. With his long pistol
scross his knee and gripped tightly.
Jos.ah bent forward. The sound was
most like that which a man would
make in crawling. Only one man on
,artn could have any reason to ap-
,roach that lonely spot by stealth at
hat hour of the night. and that man
would be Henry F1atfoot, the half
breed desperado. coming to see
whether the notice by virtue of which
he had held this mining claim had been
disturbed. The sounds were repeated,
md again ceased. Another sound 1