The Black Hills union and western stock review. [volume] (Rapid City, S.D.) 1904-19??, 1910-02-18

Tubby Hicks paused In his laborcd
progress along the path which led
from the Luzon power plant through |
the fruit laden longboi bushes to his |
neat little shack upon an Abra hillside,
and as he mopped the sweat from his
tropic bleached forehead he gave low
whistle Of surprise, for impaled upon
bamboo stake at the turn of the
path and on level with his own eyes
was the head Of IN uocano. its pock-
marked face looking straight into his
with comical leer. ''Humph-did it
Mt one lick" he commented wheeling
~ as he noted the neat way in which
the neck had been severed.
First peerlng cautiously about him,
he hastily wrenched the head from the
stake, tucked it under the flap of his
wide khaki coat. sauntered on toward
home and. wrapping the head in sew
eral layers of the Manila Times, he
carefully concealed it in the bottom of
his trunk.
That evening Tubby, to sebastian's
unbounded surprise, permitted the mu-
chacho to leave an hour earlier than
usual and, when the streaming tail of
his camisa had vanished round the
turn of the path, took possession of
the smoke incrusted kitchen with its
half dozen primitive clay stoves i'm
bedded in a long trough Of ashes.
When he had kindled fire in one Of
these the pungent smoke made him
sneeze and splitter and anathematize
Filipino kitchens In generaD he filled
with water the largest big bellied jar
among Sebastian's sooty pots and.
fetching out the mysterious head.
dropped it in.
By boiling and rubbing he pro-
duced skull which he slowed
once more in the bottom Of his trunk
and retired to rest under strictly
first class mosquito bar upon wide
and very comfortable old Spanish bed
that had cost him 25 pesos.
Somewhat overheated from such un-
usual exertions, Tubby shifted his
bulky form from time to time all over
old family cana in vain search for
the coolest spot. And as he pulled
and squirmed ponderously about like
stranded grampus he reviewed the
situation. "Head hunters. hey" An,
other squirm. Didn't like the way
turned the river aside from their clus.
ter of vile shacks. 80 they're giving me
formal notice to vamoose. Well. it's
kind and considerate Of 'cm, all right
but guess l like the Abra climate
better than Manila, even If 1t is BIZ
hot''-another shift made the bed
creak-"up here this time Of year
Let's see: they're duo tomorrow night
And Tubby drew In long. f1shlike
gasp as certain possibilities were visu
allied with startling clearness.
AS electrician at the Luzon power
plant Tubby was the only white mai
that side of vegan. twenty miles away
the force under him consisting who'll.
of Ilocanos. OF course he could tele
phone to Captain Aiken for detach
ment of constabulary to come up ant
protect him. but the thought Of tn
way the boys would guy him when b.
went back to Manila rendered such al
alternative impossible.
The following morning Tubby mad
glad the heart of the cook-recentl.
saddened by the large amount Of care
fully prepared wood that had disap
peared from the kitchen during th
nightly giving him and the mucha
cho holiday, as he was going into tn
hills to hunt deer. he declared. Tha
the fat senior ever hunted deer wa
news to them, but they kept their pei
plexities to themselves and hastene
to the cockpit in the village. which th
lazy presidente permitted to be keI
open on week days in violation of th
new law Of the loco Americanos
against the heavenly sport at any tim
except on Sundays and feast days.
The servants gone, Tubby slippe
the heavy wooden bar across the doc
closed the sliding bamboo window
and in the subdued twilight Of tn
shack brought out the skull and set
work. With pillow under his knee
to protect them from the hard bambc
Stats Of which the floor was construc
ed, he labored over the skull Of tn,
obscure and departed Ilocano with {
much thought and care as he wou
have bestowed upon the installatic
OF new dynamo. Chisels. mallet
wires big and little, solder and
soldering pot, white paper, q can
Kerosene oil, gimlet, to say nothing
heaps of clothing, Uttered the floor t
noon, when. with satisfied chuck
the steaming electrician replaced t
skull in the trunk. stood q bull
something in the dark interior Of Il
''aparador," or big movable clos
and then opened the windows to t
blessed breeze that CHANGED to
blowing down from the hills.
When he had taken shower ba
from the cask that he had rugged
over the porch he drew up bot
from the deep well in which he alwa
kept supply ION Ice" as he phras
1t in loving "reminiscences. lunched
crackers and mangoes and then sta
ed for the plant. With him he to
his fleldglasses and carefully stud
the distant hills as he proceed
''Humph-they're filing through
pass there from Bontoc now" he co
mented after long look through
glasses at cash in the distant mo,
tainE. ".Weli, hope they enjoy tn
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