Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1906-01-29
DAILY SHORT STORY
A LONG SMOKE.


ed his wife down with tubs, wash
boards. bread boards, rolling pins and
the like. After eating u good supper
said to the husband:
Come, Jim; it's time for you to tell
the story about your wedding night"
You've heard that story annually for
ten years.
Mine. This'll be the tenth"
well. If it's part of the festivities,
here goes. It's not much OF u story.
with only horse for hero. When
Doll and / agreed TO get married we
were both living in the northeast corner
of New Mexico. Her father gave us a
quarter section OF land on the Canadian
river not far below its source. and |
built a house on 1t. L was delayed i'll
getting some furniture I'd bought at
Santa Fe. and on the wedding day. aft
er the ceremony. which occurred about
O'Clock in the afternoon, l started out
TO look for it. 1t was agreed that If
didn't get back by sunset the family
were TO 90 TO the new house and wait
for me there
/ rode my sorrel horse. Pete. and
made for the road leading past the mil.
itary post, for that's the route by which
l expected the furniture. i met the
wagon numbering along and. looking at
my watch, calculated that il wouldn't
reach the ranch before 9 or 10 O'Clock
at night. 1t was then about an hour be-
fore sunset and / hesitated whether to-
go back to my father-in-law's or to the
ranch. l decided for the ranch. When
1 reached it darkness had come down.
I,,N f,.If .;.,f,, 4 az
ing through some timber. from which l
emerged in sight OF the house, when
Pete stopped suddenly. His ears We're
standing straight forward, and he trem-
bled all over. couldn't see what trou-
bled him. Everything looked peaceful,
enough at the house. A man / had
hired and in whose care / had left the
place was sitting in his chair on the
porch. with his heels up on one OF the
pillars-smoking, l supposed. / could
just see him by the light OF the rising
moon. Then it occurred to me that
since the place was not lighted the par
~ had not arrived and / would go and
meet them. i made one more effort to
get Pete to move forward. but failed.
/ rode all the way without meeting
the party AID when I reached Dolls
home found them all anxious for my
safety. for they had heard that ApacheS
had been seen during the afternoon in
the neighborhood Doll would have
doubtless thrown herself on my neck
and wept for joy at seeing me. only
she hadn't been married long enough
to do such things i'm company.
1t occurred to me that Pete had
smelled Indians But they couldn't
have been at the ranch house. fer the
hired man was sitting out unmindful
OF them. However, Mr. Gunther. my
wifes father; Tom Williams, man
working on his place, and I all took
the ranch When we neared L we
skulked through the timber and came
out on the edge of the clearing, near
where Pete had stopped. The moon
was partly obscured by clouds. but
there was enough light for us to see
that the hired man was still sitting in
the position In which / had left him.
which must have been an hour before.
/ thought he was taking a pretty long
smoke or something was wrong. While
we were wondering two dark figures |
came out of the house-we at once rec |
ognized them for Indians-and, scrap |
ing up some loose pieces Of wood, put |
them under the porch and set it afire.
II didn't propose to have my house |
destroyed, especially on my wedding |
night, and whispered the order TO crawl |
quickly forward. The burning sticks |
lighted up several Indians, who were |
Joined by half a dozen others from the |
inside Of the house. / told each of my |
companions which savage to pick OFF, |
and, taking a third myself, we all fired |
together. Two of the Indians dropped. |
and the others ran. More came dashing |
out of the house; but, our rifles being |
we pumped lead briskly, and |
the Indians, not knowing how many |
of us there We're, ran away. / was |
pleased to see that they took their |
dead and wounded with them, for I |
didn't want them around on my we'd |
ding night. AS soon as they were gone
we ran forward, kicked the kindling |
from under the porch, and bucketful |
Of water put out the fire.
Having examined the inside to see II |
the Indians had put any fire there, we
approached the hired man, who through |
all the melee sat with his heels on the |
pillar, apparently unmindful of what |
was going on. The first thing / no.
ticed about him was a bald spot on the |
top of his head-for his hat was not |
on it--and l knew at once what 1t |
meant. He had been scalped. The |
man was stone dead. He had been
placed as a decoy.
About this time the,furniture wagon
drove up. and the man in charge, not
knowing what had taken place, began
to unload IT. When he heard of my
narrow escape, and consequently his,
he wilted.
Doll and 1 spent our wedding night
at her fathers house. She declined to
live at the ranch, which 1 sold to a
man who lost his scalp a year later.
We stayed awhile at the home Of Dolls