The Huttig news., 1910-01-08
The Father
 of His Country
By FRANK E. CHASE.
(Copyright. by shortstory Pnb. Co1


 der it's present circumstances only over the treeless and illimitable prai- rie, there was not a living creature in sight to behold ii. Ii was a caravan of three vehicles, drawn by sorry looking teams of horses One clumsy wagon. covered with a tilt that had once been white, was the prototype of the prairie schooner" of later days. The others were gaudily painted vans, boldly inscribed with the 1 legend:
 PROF. ToDHUNTER'S GREAT MORAL.
 WAX WORKS
 Day after day. week after week. it had crawled along over the untrayeled plains, toward the golden promise of California. The railroads which now make this journey a trifling affair had not then been built to simplify the managerial problem, but in managerial energy the dauntiess Todhunter was ahead of his time. and he did not per. init mere difficulties to stand between him and the professional rewards of the new Eldorado. There were, be- sides, compensations. He had exhib. tied, with varying fortune, as long as there were settlements to provide au- diences; and if the pace of his little procession was that of a snail, it characteristically carried it's house along with it, for the canvas-covered cart bore all his household-his wife and two children. Altogether, his progressive domesticity had been rather pleasant business, his closet containing but one skeleton the noble redman. But now the end of his long journey was near at hand. and the dread of this peril of the road had all but worn itself out and given place to a pleasant sense of security.
 Thus it was with him in the after noon of an oppressive day when, all at once, the horses, guided by some in- stinct, suddenly pricked up their ears and quickened their weary pace, and the driver on the foremost wagon, looking ahead, saw the tree tops that told of water and camping place. He announced the long -hoped-for discov- cry without excitement.
 There y'are, guy nor-right ahead. he called out, lazily.
 Prof Todhunter rose up at the sound from the seat of the tilt-wagon at the rear of the caravan, and from this elevation peered ahead under his hand without speaking As he did so the curtains behind him parted and a womans face looked out
 What is it, Bill?" she said
 Matthias seen suthin'," replied her husband, still staring intently ahead
 Not Injuns?" ?" she asked, anxiously
 At this word two children, boy of 12 and little girl, appeared at either side of her
 "No, not Injuns, M'ria." he said re- assuringly. Gods country ag'in. Trees. An grass Giddap," And sit ting down again he smote his horses a leisurely and impersonal blow with the reins, at which they slightly quick ened their pace.
 pop?" said the boy. an active lad, brown of skin and resolute of eye.
 You don't wanter see no Injuns, Sam replied the father
 "Yes, I do," said the boy, sturdily. That's all I come for
 Prof. Todhunter chuckled proudly at this as the boy climbed to seat at his side and looked sharply about him after the manner ascribed by his fla vorite writers of fiction to that just ly celebrated connoisseur of Indians, Comanche Dick.
 Suddenly, far away to the north. his rowing eye caught sight of a nov ing speck crawling like a fly along the line of the horzon. Soon another speck appeared, then another and an other. As the boy gazed breathlessly at this phenomenon. which was elo- quent with meaning to the faithful stu. dent of the career of Long Tom the Scout, the professors satisfaction at the prospect of camping expressed itself in a quavering, but resonant scrap of half-forgotten hymn, more or less appropriate to the circum- stances of his approaching deliver ance:
 He gave my sharpest torments ease, And sileneed all my fears.
 A violent nudge from Sam, who was pointing in speechless excitement at the ominous signs in the north, inter rupted his song at this point, and he looked inqniringly in the direction the lad indicated Though he lacked the second hand experience of his gifted offspring, it did not take him long to make up his mind.
 .1njuns.' he calculated; and his en- ergetic "whoa!" sufficed to bring the entire caravan to a standstill. The creak of the axles had hardly ceased when, as if by magic. the moving specks entirely disappeared from the horizon
 Sam's vast if wholly vicarious, ex- perience of western life easily enabled him to read these signs alright, and he expounded their meaning with obvious pride to the excited little council that was gathered about Prof Todhunter. The Indians had been watching them