The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1908-09-05

a thunderin' big lot of furs an skins.
Billy SEE to me one day, as how it 'ud
be best to take 'em to Frisco and sell
'em there. as we couldn't git half the
wuth of 'em here, an, besides, we
oughter have bit of spell, anyway,
so l says bueno, we'll go. We hit the
trail fur Punta Arenas, where nearly
all our furs wus, and where we'd have
TO ketch a boat.
There wusnt nuthin' but these car
go tramp steamers in the straits then.
and the Teller in the Office there seq
50 we put up at the Gaucho hotel,
:un by Australia, to wait till she
happened along.
Wed been in this shack a couple
O. days, an one evenin' I wus down
in the barroom, havin' a quiet time by
myself, when all of sudden 1 hears
Billy, yelling fer me to come there
quick. Well, 1 grabs my old A.
thinkin' he's in seri's trouble, and tears
back to his room.
sit down." SEE he, Il got a bally
good scheme"
l slowed away the gun, disguised.
and gave i'm some advice bout fright,
enin' people with heart trouble, which
he took on motifs uf
Look here" he SEE, we're goin' ter
make our forchin this trip, shore.
Wen rig up a couple o inky baters,
and fill 'em with awstrich eggs, an
bout the time we git to Frisco
they'll be nearly ready to hatch, an
We can sell 'em alive to these rich
sports, and mebbe some to circus or
menagery. They'll fetch a fat price,
an we'd oughter git pile O. coin out
Nv EN-"
Billy was proper loco bout this
scheme, an KEEP tellin' it over an
over again, an latin an whackin' the
table with his fist, and plannin' how
we'd spend the money, It'll blamed if
he didn't git me reused up, too, an so
l said we'dd give it trial, bein's it
'ud cost nothin'
I'd never seen a inky batter on doOty
before, but Bill he'd been on a farm
up in Santa FEE, where there wus lots
Nv EN-, and then he's a mighty handy
chap with the tools, is Bill, so betwixt
us both we rugged up couple of big
boxes, and got some sperit lamps off'n
| schooner, an put some rings in the
boxes SOS to hang 'em up in the boat
! with ropes, to keep 'em from rockin
! in bad weather
That took a couple o days, an then
we started out in camp with the bosses
! an some cargo baskets with wool in
| 'em. TO fetch the eggs. You know
! how plentiful is awstrich eggs now
In December? Well, they's a lot more
| plentiful than days, an we got the
| bosses loaded in no time.
We got the eggs to Punta Arenas,
and filled up the inkybaters Betwixt
'em they held more'n 400. All over
the outside of the boxes we painted
in Spanish and English: Handle
| with care an "Delikit contents"
Purity soon the old boat hove in
sight-Englishman she wuz, bout 5000
| tons
| When everything wuz aboard, Bill
went round to the first mate, telIfn-
| him bout our inkybaters, an paid i'm
ten dollars to let us put 'em up for ard
in an empty storeroom. So we drove
some big staples in the ceilin' an
| swung up the boxes.
EVERYTHING wus goin' so easy that me
an Bill wuz gettin' more confident in
the scheme ev'ry mint.
A woman and two kids was the only
other passengers on board, cause in
them days mighty few people went up
the west coast.
We figgered the eggs nd hatch out
bout a week after we got to Frisco
an / reckon they would have, too; but
when we got up here to Callao an
loaded a bit of cargo, a Teller, with a
bunch of soldiers, come aboard, an
said the plague had broken out an we
gotter stay in quarantine
Well, the plague got wuss an wuss
an we had to lie there for three weeks
befo' we got away, an the capin vi
the boat wasn't half as mad as me an
Bill, cause we foresees that the aw
striches are going ter hatch on board
an cause trouble.
After we left Callao we couldn't git
inter any other port It'll after bunch
of uffishuls had nosed round fur q
couple of days, an finally the cap'ir
seq that we'd be two months behind
time when we got 10 Frisco.
One mornin' jest befo' we got tc
Panama, Bill had look at the eggs
an comes back maddern a fresh
sheared ram. He says: The aw
striches are comm"
We hired the carpenter TO make crates
for 'em, an it KEEP i'm working over
time to keep up with the demand. Bill
wouldn't let me do nothin. said he's
a proper burd financeer. an wus goin
ter keep herd on EN- hisself
The cap'in WIS a bit sore bout this
sudden cargo O. live stock. but Bill
Civ i'm 4 roll of fox skins an &
guanaco capa, an some furs 10 the
other officers. so they's Bits friend:
then, an the first mate told the cool
20 save all the leavin's an put EN-
a basket outside the galley. where
Bill could get it handy 10 feed the
chicks.
Out G the whole lot o eggs nearly
600 Matched; but few died, SO we
aad bout $50 left. An you oughtel
teen 'em grow!
The cap'in promised Bill he could
turn 'em out on deck ever Sat'day ful
run-a-roun', an when he'd open the
boxes they'd be all over the deck
lor'ard an aft, in five minits.
TheyS great hans to Swailer thing.