The morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1899-1930, 1905-01-28
SIMMONS LOVE STORY
lorlginalAl
simmons, tell us a story"
'tWhat kind Of a storYY'

What kind OF story
"A love story" put in one Of the par
". with grin, while the others guf.
fawed.
"rll tell you love story IL you like"
said Simmons soberly. The others
looked at each other as II wondering
Hhat kind Of love story the anro-
nantic Simmons would concoct. Then
they all agreed they would like to hear
It. This was the story:
'sTen years ago." began simmons
''leastaways 1t was somewhere In the
eighties -beln' out Of a job, was NOV
In into Arizona. / was ridin' alone
across the rollin' country, feelin' kind
O desolate like, for hadn't no rela.
tiyes except way back In Indiana, and
the circumspection wasn't calculated to
alleviate no sich feelin's, there bein no
shrubbery but cactus, which Is no more
affectionate than a porcupine. Shortly
before sundown was movin' parallel
with rise In the ground on my left |
toward the west when some'ers on |
tother side Of 1t heered the crack Of
a rife, follered by three more cracks
comm from some'at different direc
ton.
Il was In the Apache country, and
this set me 70, thinkin'. II there was
a disturbance | didn't want to git into
1t on the wrong side. Apaches haint
got no gratitude, and / preferred to
cast my fortunes on t'other side. /
jist dismounts and climbs the rise and
when at the summit takes peep
through the cactus without bein' seen.
Right down below was two wagons,
with the stock and a family of whites
behind 'em, backed by the rise | was
on, while furder out was small band
of redskins twenty or more l reckon
crawlin' up on to 'em. firin as they
crawled.
Il goes down to my horse, unshngs
two rifles, includin' all the ammunition
| had-there was plenty Of it-and
goes back to the crest. The Injuns
had scattered-deployed, as the sojers
say-into thin line curved like bow
SOS to /, take the whites both center
and on either flank"
Simmons interrupted one Of the
listeners. do you call this a love
story? call 1t fightn' yarn"
THE whites" continued Simmons
lmperturbably, was pretty much
clustered, for they never could tackle
the Injuns comm from sich different
pints. There was a middle aged man Il
and a woman about the same age, and K
two young fellows about twenty and :
kid, boy of twelve, and b
gal. Every one of the half dozen of n
EN- had rifles in their hands, includin' tr
he kid The ole man was tellin' 'em l.
lot to fire till the Injuns got closer
could hear every word he sald-not
o aim at the same savage and never
o fire without bringin' down a man.
He'd posted the gal on one extreme
lank and the kid on the other, where
here wasn't but one or two Injuns for
'ach to watch. The Apaches wasn't
lrin' jist then: they was doin' somep'n
more tpFrable;. they was creepin, >
ontractin' the line as they came.
When they got nigh'the ole man fred
nd dropped redskin At this all q
be others fired, doin damage. except. -
be gal and the kid Jist then the front 81
ne moved fore'ad and the two flank
NUNS closed in rapid 1t seemed to
le time for the reserve to come in, SO
dropped the flank Injun goin' for
le gal, then turned to the one before Gl
le kid, which sent back with limp. "
well now, you'd oughter seen the
ay them Injuns picked up their ears
nd craned their necks to see where
le shootin' came from. / knowed the
nOke hung over where was, for we
admit no smokeless powder then, so
moved purity quick dozen yards
} the right and let fly again, but
dn't hurry, so l might bring down
I Injun every time. The family be- sto
W was equal astonished, but not ems
le Of 'em dared take their eyes off'n sui
e redskins to see what was up. |
eeps movin' about behind the cactus, Co
in as rapid as / could convenient, tro
vim the appearance OF line fifty u ;
lrds from tip to tip. In less'n ten ~,
inutes I'd dropped FIVE Injuns, and -
e family, hayin' taken heart, dropped oS'
many more. | counted ten left int'
lem ten drawed off outen range and l
Id powwow, lookin' up at the crest risl
here / lay in the cactus, not wastin' an
ammunition therefore givin' no sign. strt
ter awhile, likely concludin' there r
lrn't much force on the crest, they II
vanced agin, usin' their ponies for s,,b
otection till they come within 200 -.
rds, then made dash for the wag- -
8.
OF course l couldn't tell which F0
ought down the most of 'em, the ysl
mily or me. All knowed was that In
ur Of 'em dropped, remainin' re-
lrkable quiet; two of 'em dragged "a
emselves away; the other three put
II