The silver messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1890-1912, 1908-09-08
Copyright, by shortstory pub. Coz

VI IFeNAJ $40 ~
in the grave and then threw himself
into the saddle and rode away
But at the end of dozen yards
| there came a queer sound to him, such
as he had never heard before in his
life, and he turned in his saddle and
then swerved the horse and rode back.
The baby had grown weary of gazing
at the sky and was now calling IN
eager, imperious little notes for hui
man companionship. 1t was not cry
or whine, but an order which the notes
indicated a full confidence in being
obeyed Timbrell looked down and
| listened for some moments, then
swung his body low, caught the baby
up in his arms and went dashing at
full speed toward the hills. And the
baby, as though enjoying the motion
and the companionship, looked up into
his face and crowed unqualified ap-
prevail,
In the edge of the hills he stopped
to get supper. The baby was crying
now, not fretfully but sharply, de-
handing to be fed. Timbrell had laid
him down on the leaves, and several
times while building the fire and pre-
pairing supper he turned and regarded
him perplexedly He was uncertain
about his disposal, and had picked him
up on impulse and with an idea Of
finding some more convenient way OF
getting rid of him. Assisting man
to die was one thing, assisting help
less baby was something altogether
different. There had been a lurking
impression in his mind that baby
would die within a few hours, away
from it's mother, which would have
solved the whole difficulty But this
vociferous mite seemed to be very far
from dying, and somehow Timbrell
felt a good deal of respect for him for
his obstinacy. OF course, he must be
fed.
Timbrell bent down and peered into
the widely opened mouth.
mo teeth" he muttered, disappoint-
eddy, 80, of course, he can't chaw on
beef, an 1 don't reckon tobacco or
whisky would ease his mind any; he's
too little. Dough breads what he
needs, likely"
He went to his pack and took from
it several pieces of hard bread which
he had brought from Peco. A bit of
this was crumbled into some water in
a tin cup and stirred with his finger
until it was thoroughly soaked and
soft. This he took to the baby
Nov, how am goin' to feed him?"
he wondered. Il s'pose babies gener-
ally have spoons an things for their
housekeepin, an of course l can't
pour this stuff into that pin-point of a
mouth without chokin' him. Let's see."
He reached down and cut a gener-
Gus piece from the leg of one of his
heavy boots. This he twisted into a
cone, with one end very small, and
fastened the overlapping edges with
thorns. Then, awkwardly, he raised
the baby upon his lap, poured the
contents of the tin cup into the cone,
and dropped the small end into the
open mouth.
Perhaps the baby had an iron-clad
stomach, perhaps he was very near
to starving; possibly, for some I'M
known physiological reason, the food
exactly agreed with him. At any rate.
he ate it eagerly, to the last drop, and
when the cone was empty he rubbed
his hands together and crowed glee-
fully into the face of his grinning
nurse, evidently taking the hideous
contortions of the countenance above
him for something arranged especial
ly to amuse him. Timbrell forgot his
own supper in watching, and when,
after ten minutes of playing, the baby
yawned and stretched sleepily and
then snuggled its head in under his
coat for nap, he gave utterance to
his favorite expression: well, I'll
be -"