The Kemper herald. (Scooba, Miss.) 1875-1908, 1906-03-22
Just an Indian Cur.
But a Little Dog Who Was an Altogether
Delightful Companion.
From Carter Hamilton's "Flapjack" in
st. Nicholas.


ne turned Ou0 ClSdH udll-oOluOt
sault from nowhere and landed PUNK
on his back at my feet. I said,
"Flapjacks!" That's how he got his
name. He was only an Indians cur,
the forlornest little waif of a lost
puppy, with the most beautiful dogs
eyes l havee yer seen. He scrambled
to his feet and used his eyes-that
settled it for us. Without further In
PRODUCTION, we offered him the re-
mains of our dinner. He accepted 1t
with three gulps and the stood wag-
ging his poor little tail, asking for
more
We are camping and trailing out in
the Wind River Northumberland
and hack Of the Shoshone Indian
Reservation, and we had halted for
dinner in a small canyon in the shade
of the rock wall from whose summit
Flapjack had tried his little ocrobatic
stunt. Whether he came from an
Indian encampment neal by, which
we had not seen, Or was just plain
lost and Tending for himself alone in
the wilderness we did not know. He
told us about Tending for ones self
while he ate his dinner, an that 1t
was IAN awful hard life and some
times Every discouraging." After
dinner he told us that u scraps
were the very best food he had ever
eaten; that our outfit, our horses and
mule, the finest he had ever seen;
that we ourselves were gods, wise and
very great; that he loved the ground
we trod on, and only asked to stay
with us forever. So he stayed.
Jimmy, the mule, returned his compli-
ments unopened, and told him what
she thought of him by showing the
under side Of her off hind hoof and
putting back her ears. But then, jim
ny was the only aristocratic person
in camp, in her own opinion, and you
may take that for what it Is worth.
She didn't prejudice us against Flap
jack. Still, Brandt and l happened
not to share Jinny's opinion of her
self. Brandt was in the habit of re-
marking on seventeen separate and
several occasions each day that "even
fer a mule, jimmy is the low-downdest
one l ever set eyes on"
At the sight of her hoof, Flapjack
made a ludicrous little duck with his
head and came back to us, volubly
that, "Of course. the mule
being yours, don't you know? she
simply must be the very finest, sweet
tempered animal in the world, don't
you know? and altogether above re-
proach, don't you known" That won
us completely.
And he never once r~eproached her
for anything she did-even when she
kicked him into the river. He treated
her with distant courtesy always,
without so much as a zap in her d.
rection. And it wasn't because he was
afraid of mules, either-Brandt and 1
will deny that imputation against his
valor to our dying day. Let a strange
mule or horse get in among ours, and
Flapjack was a very lion of ferocity
until he had yapped him out Of sight.
Think we'd better look for their
camp?" I asked, putting the dishes
into Jinny's pack.
What, the purp's Injuns? Not
much!" answered Brandt. eff they
haven't seer us, let 'em alone. An
if they have-why, we've got tolwait
proper introductions. I~smove W.
hike"
So we hiked, and Flapjack hiked
with Us.
We kept on our trail, if such it could
be called: a trail which probably no
white man but ourselves had ever set
foot upon. We were bound for a little
lake that we knew, crammed with
the most innocent fish on earth. No;
l am not going to tell you where.
There are some things you must find
out for yourself, If you r game for
1t. Just as we did; otherwise, you
don't deserve to know.
After some ten days w arrived,
without either adventure OF misad-
venture, at our happy is~hing-ground,
and made camp On a little precipice
ut whose feet a deep, dark pool
lured monster and luscious rarities.
In spite of his hard journey, little
F1apjack had improved amazingly as
TO health, not as to manners: for from
the first day we knew him he had the
most perfect manners of any dog !