Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1908-03-20

for Il pension. Il thought | was book
ell to ~ without saying G"rdby 10
you. You got the note I pinned on
your shack
sure
Wei, there's time for chin be-
fore the choo-choo starts. Thought I'd
l., early. not savyying this kind of
travelling a great deal. Darned If You
riA't Growcd since saw YOU. Getting
fat too, Well. how's everything!
didn't say nothing To the other boys
about pulling my freight. as l wanted
To- 20 sober FOR once. You explain to
'em that old Reds head amt swelled.
will you: Seems kind Of dirty to go
of that way, but I'm bound for Gods
GENTRY and the old time folks, and
somehow I feel that l must cut the
bulge out Of 1t. Mother thing IS I'm
supcrstitiouS. as you may or may not
have noticed. and I believe If you try
the same game twicet you'll get just
IS different results as can be the sec
ond time. You heard how l hit it IN
the mines, didn't you? No? Well,
tutt y ~. Ou I'LL SNth Auuuy
out on the fiat. have you? Hum! l
don't know principally where to be-
gin You remember Wind River
Smiths pardner that the boys called
Shadder because he was SO thin? Nice
Teller, always willing to do you a fa-
vor or say something comical when
you least expected 1t. Had kind Of a
style with him too. Yes, sir. that's the
man. Well. him and me was out IN
the Bend one day, holding mess Of
Oregon half breeds that was to be
shipped by train shortly. when old
Smithy comes with the mail. Letter
for you, Shadder,' says Smith and
passes over a big envelope with wads
of sealing wax all over It, Shadder
reads his letter and folds 1t up. Then
he takes look over the Countrywide
Kind Of look n man gives when he's
thinking hard. Then says he. Red.
take off your hat done It, 'Smithy,
take Off your hat All right says
Smith, but you tell me why or I'll
snake the shirt off you to square
things
boys, says Shadder. I'm Lord
Walford.'
Lord Hellfordr hollers Smithy.
You'd better call somebody in to look
at your plumbing. What you been
drinkin', ShadderT
Read for yourself says Shadder,
and he handed him the letter.
"Wish't you could have seen old
Smithy's face as he read It. He
thought his pardner had been cut out
Of his herd forever.
Its the Gods truth. Red says he
slowly. and he had a sideways smile
on his face as he turned to Shadder.
We'll, SIR says he. 4 suppose congrat-
ulations are In orderT
"Shadder's hand stopped short on
Its way to the cigarette. and he looked
ut Smithy as II he couldn't believe
what he saw.
ITO hell with 'emy 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 so after him. you Jealous
old sorehead.' says I. Go on I says
as he started to argue the point. or Ill
spread you. nose all the way down
your spinal column The only time
to saJ NO to me Is when I'm not
meaning what I say, SO away goes
Wind River, and they made 1t up
NIL right in No time. Well. Shadder
had to pull for England to take a
Squint Mt the ancestral estates. and all
Of us was right here Mt this station to
see him of. Lord. 1t seems as II that
happened last world! Well. 1t took
little bit the edge of any and all
DRINKS q ranch rs IN 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 1t wasn't Shadder's
fault-gad hook 1t NIL! He was the
best. hOotin'. tootin' son-Of-a-sea- cook
that ever hit prairie breeze In spite
Of this dun foolishness.
"They can't make no "lOrd" of
Shadder! hollcrs Smithy. That is.
not for long. He's q man, Shadder is
amt cher. yer ID old gangle
legged hide rackT
"And Shadder never lost his patience
at oil. 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 boyv 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
that.
''But did your uncle Red get under
the influence Of strong drink? Did he1
Oh, my! oh, my! wish could make
1t clear to you. The vigilantes put
after q 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 rs a
patent medicine sign. as the lad hadn't
had time to stop for alterations.
"Well.' says they. what have you
SOI W Guy AOK yOuIocAAI nc IOOhcO
Mt them brands staring him In the
face. and he bit of q small hunk of
chewing 'Ptt-chay" Says he. Gentle
men, I'm at loss for words! And
they let him go. as q good Joke is
worth its price in any mans country.
I'm in that lads fix. I amt got the
words to tell you how seriously drunk
/ was on that occasion. l remember
putting for what l thought was the
hotel and settling down. thinking there
must be lulu Of scrap in the bar
room from the noise. Then somebody
gave me o punch In the libs and says,
where's your ticketT and I don't
know what I said nor what he gaie
after that, but 1t must have been all
right. Then 1t got light. and 1 met q
lot Of good friends never saw before
nor since Then more noise and trou.
bic, and at last woke up-in q hotel
bedroom. all right. but not the one
was used to. l went to the window,
hcaved her open and looked out. 1t
was q bully morning and I felt AL.