Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1909-01-15
The Squatter.


nothing to compare with this. A gang
of half a dozen men were crossing his
land. He had squatted on the land
twenty years before and therefore call
ed it his. One of the men was squint-
ing through a surveyors instrument,
others were using a chain, and still 9th
ers were cutting down brush and driv-
ing stakes. Pop got to his feet and
rubbed his eyes and scratched the back
of his head. Then he exclaimed to
himself, "Dawg gone my catsv' and
sauntered down to the strangers and
asked of one of them:
Now, then, what you all dom
yere?"
Surveying" was the brief reply.
"What fur?"
"a railroad"
zone O. them things that boots and
draws kyars behind emf"
Yes
"Then git of'n my squat! You all
can't build no railroad yere. l don't
want the hootin', and I won't have It."
The men laughed at him, and he
went to the cabin and got his gun and
threatened them. For this he was ar
rested and given three months in Jail.
His old wife and his son Joe took 1t
philosophically.
Got him In jail, hev theyT queried
the wife when she heard the outcome
of the trial. "Waal, he won't git his
feet wet in thar, and mebbe the whis-
ky II be better"
When Pop came out of Jail they were
building the roadbed across his land.
He sat down in his old place in the
sunshine and glowered and muttered,
and his son Joe came along and said:
mo use, Pop. Them railroad folks
are too hefty fur you. That hooters
bound to cum along fur shore"
But have l ever done anything to
the railroad?" demanded the father.
Reckon not"
"Then what do they want to come
along yere Dustin up my peace O. mind
fur?'
Cant say, pop, only they are COM
in'."- 5
mot If l know it, Joe; not If l know
1t! I'm a man as has got to have a
chance to think, and how m 1 goin' to
think with a hooter a-hootin' along
yere? I'm a-tellin' you, my son, that
it's got to be stopped"
"You hain't hefty huff, pop"
Pop went down to where they were
laying and spiking the rails and said
that If work did not cease at nee he
would kill a man. A constable was at
hand to arrest him, and he was taken
to town for another trial. This time he
got a year l.. jail.
What fur?" be asked the judge.
~sFor interfering with -faiEtd
and making threats"
But didn't the railroad interfere
with me 1rstY'
"As to howY
Gas t Dustin up my chance fur
thinkin'. Jedge, I'm a man what thinks.
I've got to think. I've got to sot down
with my back to the cabin and think q
mighty heap. I've allus had to do 1t,
and now If this dinged hooter is comm
along yere to bust me up l might as
well hang myself"
what do you think Off"
"Of how to git whisky and terbacker
and bacon and meal"
When the boy anne home from the
trial the wife and mother asked no
questions for an hour. Then she care
lessly queried:
"How much this timer"
"a year"
"Shoo! Pop is gainin' on it."
When pop had served two months of
his sentence he broke jail and came
home. He arrived at night. AS he en-
tered the cabin his wife awoke and
called out:
"That you, pop?"
"Yep."
"What We dom outer jailT'
Busted out"
Coin to hide away In the woodsY'
Cant say. Don't talk to me any
mo-, fur I'm dog tired"
Powerful hefty for your size, pop"
said Joe as be awoke, "but We hain't
hefty huff. Better let 'em alone"
When morning came pop ate his
breakfast and said little. Then he de-
parted for his thinking log in the
woods. 1t was almost noon when he
returned to take down his rifle from
its hooks.
Better let it alone, pop" cautioned
Jim.
"Shoo, but how cantankerousv' whis-
pered the wife.
Pop walked down on the tracks on
which trains were running regularly.
He took his stand between the rails In
full sight of the cabin, and his wife and
son came out to see. No word was
spoken between them. After ten min
utes they heard a passenger train
whistling at the highway crossing a
mile below. Then came the rumble of
wheels and a sight of the train itself.
AS 1t came into view pop drew his
rifle to his face and stood like a rock.
The "hooter" hooted at him. AS the
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