Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1910-03-18
Dy JOSEF: {. LINCOLN


New .I1 .1a Boston lapers to "ha-
lue icfto, rrs." as hr caard it. Besides
The rcg'ir .u.u about IN, breath Of
I'D ocean" aul the "si,ip'. cieaniy
living Of thee ly-oIr days We dream
about" thorr WIS some new roth con
co.aio. Guitu- and fishing. You'd
tank jhc Vjd geese roasted on the
Ia-p..e nights and the b.uensh clog
I,d NJ tie b3y SOS You could walk on
t..ir back ms without NettinG your
feet-tlat is, if You wore rUbbers and
trol light.
There" says Peter +. waving the
advertisement and growing gladstone.
They'll take to that like your temp'r-
ance aunt TO brandy cough drops.
Wen have to put up barbed wire TO
keep 'em off"
"iiumph" grunts Cap'n Jonadab.
"Anybody but born fool II know
there amt any shooting down here
tlis time Of year"
Peter looked at him sorrowful.
Pop" says he. did YOU ever hear
that Solomon answered n summer no.
clock ticks
Well. that's bout all we had to do.
We got boarders enough from that RI
dicuious advertisement to fill every
spare room we had, including Jona-
dab's and mine. Me and the cap'n had
to bunk in the barn loft. but there
was some satisfaction in that 1t give
us an excuse to get away from the
sports" in the smoking room.
The Todds was part Of the haul. He
was little, dried up man, single and
n minister. Nigh IS | could find out.
he'd given up preaching by the re-
quest of the doctor and his last congre-
cation. He had notion that he was
a mighty hunter afore the Lord, like
Nimrod in the Bible. and he'd come to
the Old Home to bag a few gross Of
geese and ducks.
His sister was an old maid and
slim, neither Of which failings was
from choice, I carlate. She wore eye
glasses and veil to preserve her
complexion" and her idee seemed to
DO that native Cape Codders lived in
trees and ate cocoanuts. She called
'em ''barbarians, utter barbarians."
Whenever she piped James" her
brother had to drop everything and re-
port on deck. She was skipper Of the
Todd craft
Them Todds was what Peter T. call
ed the limit and a chip or two over"
The other would be gunners and fish
ermen were satisfied to slam shot
after sandpeeps or hook stray soul
pin or hake. But 'twa'n't so with
brother James Todd and sister Claris-
sa. Ducks" it was in the advertising,
and nothing but ducks they wanted.
Clarissa, she commenced to hint mid
ding p'inted concerning fraud.
Finally we lost patience, and Peter
T. he said they'd got to be quieted
somehow or he'd do some shooting on
his own hook; said too much Teddy
was going to his head. Then suggest
ed taking 'em down the beach some
where on the chance Of seeing q stray
coot or loon or something
that could be shot at. Jonadab and
Peter agreed twas a good plan, and
we matched to see who'd be guide.
And I got stuck, of course. My luck
again.
So the next morning we started, me
and the Rev. James and Clarissa in
the Creased Lightning, Peters new
motor launch. Clarissa set around
doing the heavy contemptuous and
turning up her nose at creation gener-
ally. It must have its drawbacks,
this roosting so fur above the common
flock.
Well, by and by Lonesome Huckle-
berries shanty hove in sight, and l
was glad to see 1t, although had to
answer a million questions about Lone
some and his history.
told the Todds that, so fur as ma
tionality was concerned. he was a lit
tie of everything, like picked up din
ner-principally Eyetalian and Portu-
gee, l carlate, with a streak Of Gay
Head Injun. He lives in the patch
work shanty on the beach down there.
he is deaf and dumb, drives a liver col
Ored, balky mare that no one but him.
self and his daughter Becky can han
die. and he has love for bad rum
and temper that's landed him in the
Wellmouth lookup more than once or
twice. He's one Of the best gunners
alongshOre. and at this time he owned
flock Of live decoys that he'd refused
as high as SIS apiece for. l told all
this and q lot more.
When We struck the beach Clarissa.
she took her paint box and umbrella
and mosquito 'intment and the rest Of
her cargo and went of by herself to
sketch"
James and me went perusing up and
down that beach in the blazing sun
looking for something to shoot. We
went way beyond Lonesome's shanty.
but there want nobody to home. Todd
was cheerful talker, but limited. His
favorite remark was. "Oh. l say. my
deah man, That's what he kept call
ing me. my deah man." Now. my
name amt exactly Claude de Mont
mnrcncy for prettiness. but "Barzilla"
will fetch me alongside good deal
quicker'n my deah man." I'll tell you
that.
We frogged it up and down all the
forenoon, but didn't git shot at moth
ing but one stray "squawk" that had
come over from the Cedar swamp. l
told James twas a canvasback. and
he blazed away at it, but missed it by
three fathom. as might have been ex-
pected.
Finally my game leg-rheumatiz, you
understand-begun to give out, so
f10ps down in the shade of a sand bank
to rest. and the reverend goes poking
off by himself.
] carlate must have fell asleep. for
when l looked at my watch 1t was
close to o'clock and time for us to
be getting back to port. | got up and
stretched and took an observation, but
further N Clarissa's umbrella on the
sky line l didn't see anything stirring.
Brother 11mpS xva'n't visible