The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1908-04-11

mefllke Dlow on the cDin ana dOuDled
| him up in the air. Here was kind OF
squatter that hadn't been met before.
A whirwind couldn't have worked
faster. The four struck at him, and
kicked him, and endeavored to bring
him to the ground. He felt himself
being overpowered, and worked his
hand to the butt Of his revolver. II
spoke with one quick snap, and the
snarl was untangled.
One man seized a useless shoulder,
through which the bullet had torn its
way. and the others sprang for their
weapons. Sandy tried to wing one of
them, and found that his remaining
cartridges were defective.
This wouldn't do. He must take to
cover and put in fresh ones. He
jumped, with long leaps, toward one OF
the barriers OF fallen trees and sought
shelter. As he dropped down behind
his logs, two rifle bullets sang danger
ously past his head, and went flick.
flicking" through the tree tops.
Sandy stood behind a log, with
feverish energy threw out the cart.
ridges which had failed him in his
need, and inserted fresh ones from his
belt. Then he clambered along to
point where he could catch a sight of
his battlefield, and took a survey. Not
a target was in sight. He worked his
way back cut a stick, and showed his
! hat upward to the top of the log, try.
ing to draw his enemies fire. II was
..cf. a N 4.
TO the ground behind him. He rushed
to point OF observation and took an.
other look, but nowhere was an enemy
In sight. Not even a rife barrel pro-
truded from behind any of the forest
giants. who calmly furnished shelter
Sandy recovered the hat, and from
| a new point of vantage tried his ruse.
It failed to attract attention. Plainly
his opponents were enemies Of no
mean caliber. An old trick could be
played upon them once, but that vas
all. He must either retreat or use
new tactics. The first alternative was
untenable, because he never had run
yit," and the second meant a recon.
noiter. Sandy made his way around
the thicket. and by the aid of another
allen log gained an angle, from which
he peered. An elbow was in sight. He
would practice on that.
"Whang' went his pistol, and the
elbow lurched violently, and smoth-
cred oaths told that the shot had been
well aimed. Sandy smiled. The Joy
Of battle was on him. He felt that
, axultation which comes from deadly
strife. He wanted to yell. II would
have helped him, he felt sure. He
caught sight OF head and fired, but
evidently missed. That bothered him
little. Misses were not in his line
II must be the fault of the cartridges
/ again.
, Once more he emptied his pistol and
carefully inspected each load as he
placed II in It's chamber. TOO bad"
he unused, ito lose that last shot! Eel.
lers that sell no.account cartridges
like these ought ter have the law on
/ EN-. Coin ter smash that feller one,
, next time | see him.
Then the battle became slow. Sandy
couldn't work farther around his bar.
ricade and, peep as he would, he could
, catch no sight OF an enemy. Well.
they being the strongest. ID was up
to" them to come and hunt him. He
would wait.
, Bees hummed busily through the
! air, seeking the blossoms of the wood.
land for the gathering of their spoil
The birds returned and began their
twitterng, and from on in the forest
: woodpeckerS hammer recommended
! a tapping into the bark. In the dis.
tance the cooling Of wild pigeon lent
J melancholy note. The time crept
+, forward and on each side, the com.
batants waited for the next move.
, Sandy was getting restless and had al
, most resolved to take chance on
! creeping In wide detour around his
} men. and by this Ranking movement
20 gain a shot or two.
From back of him came sound OF
; footsteps, padding across the needles.
/ He threw himself at length upon the
: ground and wriggled his way to a
place where no shot might reach. So
. his enemies had beat him to It," and
were rounding him up? Woe be to
/ the first one who came In sight! What
was the fool doing, anyway?
"Woof," came snort from the
rear. Sandy recognized the sound az
being the satisfied grunt of brown
bear who, In fancied security, had
: made his way to thicket OF blackber.
3 ries But what was that other sound ?
[ More footsteps, and then a louder
, snort from the bear. u woman's 8
3 scream, and the noise OF tearing thick.
cts as the animal plunged through the
. underbrush In flight.
r The redheaded one, forgetful Of
danger, with curiosity at highest pitch.
his composure startled by this won
? derful occurrence Of that unusual
, sound-a woman's voice-stretched
his head over his rear breastwork and
Iyelled "Hello!"
In his excitement he raised his head
, too high, and rife ball went whiz-
zing through the top of his hat. Sandy
ducked down. while from out In front
mans voice broke into curses direct
: cd at the one who had fired the shot.
Cant you see," the voice expostu-