The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1906-09-21
SANDY BILLS PLEDGE
gy Jos. e. Badger. Jr.

The stage rolled up to the station
door, and five dusty travellers emerged
from it. with long drawn signs of re
lief. Sandy tossed his reins to the ad'
miring host!er, and slowly dlsmounsec
from his ioitly perch.
come, pasds,' quoth II of the pas
Sengers, II huge buriy fellow, OF the
"Aalf-horse, halt-alligator" type, les
piZen,"
Here ye be, then" and the station
keeper promptly Produced Il couple o:
black bottles containing Il suspicious
looking iluid. The genuine mountain
dew
mines, everybody "h'ists pizan.' y ma
drinks to prove his manhood. He who
cannot 'r5tstie his quart o bottled
lishtnin' is - miikscp.
You hearn my inVite??" uttered Her.
cu!es, noGding toward Sandy Eiil, who
stood at ease. very mach resembling
am inverted Y of the human type, filling
MS stunpy pipe with erunll5led "nigger
head" 4 said all hans 20 plzen.
Come, jine."
"ihankee. pard, but l amt on IT,"
And Sandy Bill struck u match.
"Yog amt, eh? Stranger. you don't
know me-, L reckon. I'm Blgenosed
Johnny. Tim ~peaeeable when you don't
rub The fur asin' the srain. but then
I'm a screal7cr on wheels. | AK you
az Income drink
Them as don't drink to my call must
show thar hams" significantly uttered
Bluenose Johnny, as n hand fell TO
a revolver hilt.
"A fun han. durn ye.' gritted Sandy
Bill, as he sprang forward. his right
hand ~alighting with crushing force full
between he giants eyes.
Biuenose Johnny slowly raised his
head and uplifted a palm of truce, ut
tering in somewhat shaky accents:
Al hunkv, pard. Gil me your ham"
and Sandy Bill raised his fallen antag-
onist. Now, while grub's gittin'
ready, tn tell We why 1 didn't pizen.
"Mebbe none o you fellers didn't
know Hank Darby-I mean 'ceptin'
Bart yonder. Waal. he driv' on the
Overland an got to be INT the
Bluenose. quicker'n a nest o. wild cats,
stiong's a BUTLER bull, on the shoot
from he word go. an could jest
nat'ally Spite more pizen han any old
miner you ever hearn on. He was all
man, wal Hank, from tip to toenail.
Eh. Bart?"
You bet!" grunted the station keep
Ell.
True es gospel, gentlemen, or 1
through, Hank was.
This ere station then was KEEP by
a Teller called Souther. Thar was the
old man., his woman, a gal IN n boy.
The gal-Sally, she was called-was
jest lightnin' from the word git-up. Big
an stout as a mule. n'arly. she war as
handy as a man, most. Purity, too.
o bet! Red ha'r-so red the ace o.
hearts d look like a niger longside o.
it. Her skin was white an soft. The
sur didn't seem to dar' fetch it. An
muscle.-now you're talkin'! Spotted
turkey only worse. Well he tried to
kiss her once. The varmint was full
es a tick, OF he'd = knowed better;
but Sally she opened his eyes-you bet,
Why, that gal Sally jest snatched
the imp by the slack o. his trowsers
an the scruff o his neck, toted him
outdoors, he a-hickin' like a Mexican
am k~er-flumped him headfo'most into
the creek. She did so!
WAL, es you may reckon, bein' as
Sally vas the only single critter o. the
white sort fer fifty mile on airy side,
she he'd more fellers runnin' arter her
than you could shake a stick at in a
month. Yes, ] was one; 1 don't deny
it. I'd bin a burned fool eff / hadn't.
But we didn't anyone stan no airthly
show 'longside o. Hank. He Jest NAT
ally went in to win, an overhead US,
every draw. Bluff wasn't with a cent
thar. No, sir-not much.
"Waal the weddin' KEN OFF, an OF
all h fun-git out! Reckon thar new
er was sech AN out-an'-out time afore
or as at that weddin'. We all
spread ourselves, we Jest did-avery
mothers son of US. l fetched a fiddler
from Tangornes, through the snow
fer it was snowin' like Jimineddy-an'
the rest o. the boys furnished grub,
while Souther found the warmin' stuff.
hev! Sally was the only gal thar, an
so we he'd to rig up a stag dance, With
some of the men tricked out in VIM
mems toggery.
w didn't think o. what was comm
arter, or 'twould have split that frolick.
Els it was, we put in for all hat was
out. as Hank had made UP his mind
to travel with Sally to his ranch that
same night. Licker was free, an
scarce one o. the lot that wasn't fuller
h a tick. Hank drunk like the rest,
but then he didn't only git partly
drunk.
WAL. the two started out for thai
ranch, though we hated to see 'em go
because OF the snowstorm. But it had
sorter Stacked UP, an Hank knowed the
road like a book. We didn't none or
us offer to go long, for we wasn't sc
drunk that we didn't know they'd a
heap ruther be alone thar to hev COM
p'ny, SO soon arter bein' hitched. We
Civ 'em a cheer, am off they driv' ir
the agents one-horse cart, an then the
snowstorln wrapped 'em up from US.
w keep UP the fun until daylight
an then some o us started over to see
how the married folk was gittin' along
But they wasn't at the ranch. nor they
hadn't bin THAI neyther. That sobereG
US off. We knowed then III a minnit
what was up, an the Word spread all
over like a prairie fire.
1T was nearly night when we found
en-. First we ken crost the boss an
wagon. 1t was way u from the right
track, an the boss had fallen into
gully. an broken his leg. The carr
held him down, an he'd frozc to death
We knowcd by tsat what we'd sec
wacn I'VE KEN on Hank an Sally.
They was lynn in Il boiler, kiveret
over with snow, and Rugged in each
others arms like as though they mac
ssrowed hathaway. They were deae
frcZa, like stones.
.I4anl, he'd tuck off his blanket Goa
an wrapped it round Sally; then thai