Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1907-11-21


at sm1thy as ii he couldn't believe
what he saw.
"'To hell with 'em" says he as saw
age as a wildcat, and he jabbed the
irons In and whirled his cayuse about
! on one toe, heading for the ranch.
"'Now you go after him, you jealous
old sorehead.' says |. Go on says
as he started to argue the point, or I'll
spread your nose all the way down
your spinal column The only time
to say NO to me is when I'm not
meaning what l say, so away goes
Wind River. and they made It up
all right in no time. Well. Shadder
had to pull for England to take Il
squint at the ancestral estates. and all
of US was right here at this station to
see him off. Lord, it seems as if that
happened last world Well, 1t took
a little bit the edge off any and all
DRINKS a ranch as an institution had
ever seen before. There was old Smithy
crying around, wiping his eyes on his
sleeve and explaining TO lot of east.
ern folks that it wasn't Shadders
fault-gad hook it all. He was the
best, hootin'. tootin' son-of-a-sea- cook
that ever hit a prairie breeze in spite
Of this dun foolishness.
"They can't make no lord" of
Shadder" hollers Smithy. That is.
not for long. He's man. Shadder is
amt cher, yer ID old gangle
legged hide rackY
"And Shadder never lost his patience
at all, though 1t must have been kind
Of trying to be made into such a holy
show before the kind Of people he
used to be used to. All he'd say was,
Bet your life, old boy! Well, 1t was
right enough, too, as Smithy had
nursed him through smallpox one win
ter up In the Shoshonee country and
mighty near starved himself to death
feeding Shadder out Of the slim grub
stock when the boy was on the mend.
Still, some people would have forgot
hat.
"But did your uncle Red get under
the influence of strong drink? Did hef
Oh, my! oh, my! l wish could make
1t clear to you. The vigilantes put
after a horse thief once In Montana,
and they landed on him in a butt end
canyon, and there was all the stock
with the brands on 'em as big as a
patent medicine sign, as the lad hadn't
had time to stop for alterations.
"'Well,' says they. what have you
got to say for yourselfT He looked
at them brands staring him in the
face. and he bit off small hunk of
chewing 'Ptt-chayv Says he, Gentle
men, I'm at loss for wordsr And
they let him go, as a good joke is
worth its price in any mans country.
I'm in that lads fix. | amt got the
words to tell you how seriously drunk
I was on that occasion. | remember
putting for what l thought was the
hotel and settling down, thinking there
must be lulu of a scrap In the bar
room from the noise. Then somebody
gave me punch In the ribs and says,
Where's your ticket| and | don't
know what | said nor what he sa d
after that, but it must have been all
right. Then it got light, and | met n
lot of good friends | never saw before
nor since. Then more noise and tTOu-
bic, and at last | woke up--in a hotel
bedroom, all right, but not the one
was used to. | went to the window,
heaved her open and looked out 1t
was a bully morning. and | felt Al.
There was nice range of mountains
out in front of me that must have
come up during the night. I'd like to
know where l am | thinks. But
somebody will tell me before long, so
there is no use worrying about that
the main point is, have been touchedT
l dug down into my jeans, and there
wasn't thing of any kind to remem-
Der me by. No. / says to myself. 4
amt been touched-I've been grabbed
they might have left me the price
Of breakfast! Well. it's a nice look