Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1908-01-16

Then they settled down for what
Red called a good medicine talk. Miss
Matte found herself boldly speaking
of little fancies and notions that had
remained in the inner shrine of her
soul for years. shrinking from the mat
tcr-of-fact eye of Fairfield: yet this
big, ferocious looking Cousin Will
seemed to find them both sane and in
teresting. and as. her self respect went
| up in the arithmetical her admiration
for Cousin VIII went up in the geo.
| metrical ratio. He frankly admitted
weaknesses and fears that the males
Of Fairfield would have rejected
; scornfully.
Miss Matte spoke Of sleeping up
stairs, because she could not rid
herself of the fear of somebody COM
| ing in.
81 know just how you feel about
| that" said Red. "My hair used to be
on its feet most of the time when we
| were in the hay camp at the lake beds.
| Gee whiz! The rattlers! We put hair
ropes around-but them rattlers liked
| to squirm over hair ropes for exercise.
| L
a crawler on my chest. For Gods
sake, Peter says ito Antelope Pete.
| who was rolled up next me. come take
| my friend awayn and l didn't holler
| very loud neither. Pete was chain
| lightning in pants, and he grabs Mr..
| Rather by the tail and snaps his neck.
! but l felt lonesome in my inside till
| dinner time. You bet, | know Just
| how you feel exactly. / didn't have
mans sized nights rest while we was
| in that part of the country"
! 1t struck Miss Matte that the cases
were hardly parallel. "a rattlesnake
on your chest, Willr' she cried, with
her hands clasped in terror.
"Oh, it wasn't as bad as it sounds.
He was asleep, coiled up there to get
/ warm sharpish nights on the prairie
in August-but darn it. Matte" wrin-
king up his nose in disgust, II hate
the sight of the brutes.'
But you wouldn't be afraid Of q
man, Will"
well, no." admitted he. I've ncv-
err been troubled much that way. You
see, everybody has a different fear to
|, throw q crimp in them. Mines rattle.
snakes and these little bugs with forty
million pairs of legs. l pass right out
when l see one of them things. They
. give me a feeling as if my stummici
had melted"
Weren't the Indians terrible out
there. too" asked Miss Matte. I'm
sure they must have been"
'Oh. they amt bad people If yo,
uEe 'em right" said Red. Not that
, like 'em any better on the GROUND
than in it, he added hastily, fearful
! of betrayiiIS the sentiment of his
country, but l never had but one rea
!, argument man to man. Black Vol
f and 1 come together over matter o.
; who owned my cayuSe, and from
words we backed off and got to shoot
a. ing. He raked me from knee to hip. a,
u was kneeling down, doing the bes
II could by him and wasting ammuni
, ton because / was in hurry. Still,
did bust his ankle. In the middle o
the fuss stray shot hit the cayuse il
I the head, and he croaked without
+ remark. so there we We're. a pair o
I fools miles from home with nothin;
!, left to quarrel about! You could hav
, fried an egg on a rock that day, and
a always makes you thirsty to get sho
anyways serious, thinking of which
7 hollered peace to old Black Wolf an,
n told him I'd pull straws with him t
! see who took my canteen down to tn
; creek and got some fresh water. H
: was agreeable and we hunched up
| o., % =,
+ say it, but 1 was worse hurt than tina
r Injun, SO / worked him. He got til
short straw. and had to crawl mil
. through cactus, while I sat comforts
bic on the cause of the disagreement
and yelled TO him that he looked lik
a badger and other things that an Ii
jun wouldn't feel was a compliment
. Red leaned back and roarcd. Il ca
see him now putting his hands dow
SO careful and turning back ever
once in awhile to cuss me. Turned OF
that it was his 'cayuse too. Feller' thu
sold it to me had stole it from him.
7 oughtn't to laugh over it, but l can
help but smoker when / think how
did that Iniun.''
IL Generally speaking, Miss Matte ha
70 lively sense of humOr. but the jol
of this was lost on her. Her educ
ton had been that getting shot W:
% far from funny.
why, 1 should have thought &c
!" would have died, WIFI
Il What! For a little crack in Il
n Lego" cried Red, with some impatienc
S You people must quit easy in th
e country. Die nothin'. One of OF
e. boys came along and took us to cam
and we was up and doing again in /
g time. Course Black Wolf has a gan
II leg for good, but the worst that
ID stuck to me is a yank or two of rhe
t matism In the rainy season. / pa
r Wolf for his cayuse,," he finish,
n shamefacedly. Il had the laugh
him anyhow"
l! Miss Matte told him she thong
" that was noble of him, which tribu
ii Red took as medicine aud shifted Il
ID subject with speed to practical affair
e. He asked Miss Matte how much mo
G. ey she had and how she managed
oil ont Al