Gloucester County Democrat., 1912-05-09

with rr1ends. Tnen along come rnIs
Danny Calkins, that taken up some
land nigh to me in the bottoms-low
downest coward of a man that evei
disgraced the sile of yearth-and then
| merried him"
rs be dead. too. my dear woman? p
asked.
Don't you dear woman me- |
amt free to merry agin yit," said she
Nav. he amt dead. and amt dee.
vorced either. just done left him.
Why. every man in Pike has whipped
When man couldn't git no reputation
any other way he'd come erlong and
whipped my husband | got right
tired of it. And me the wife of two
real men befo' then. ! had eight
chillen by my two husbands that was
real men. and every one of them died
or got killed like man or went west
like man exceptin' this thing here.
the son of that there Danny Calkins
Why, he's afraid to go coon huntins at
night for fear the cats'll get him. He
don't like to melk keow for fear
she'll kick him He's afraid to court
gal. He kain't shoot, he KANT chop.
he kain't do nothin'"
"Say. mister said she. "how tall
are you?"
"About six feet. think"
"Hnm' That's just about how tall
my 6est husband was. You look some
like him in the face too. Say, he was
| the fightin est man In Pike. How come
him to get killed was diffikilty with
his brother-in-law, a Dutchman that
kept saloon and couldn't talk Eng
lish. Jim. he went In there to get a
bite to eat and asked this Dutchman
what he could set up. Paul-that was
the Dutchman's name-he says. We'll.
we got dawg-mallard dawg and red
head dawg and canvasback dawg-
what's the kind of dawg you like,
Chim?'
"My husband thought he was pokin'
fun at him, talkin' about eatin' dawg,
not KNOWN the Dutchman was tryin'
to say duck and couldn't. i might
have piece of duck said Jim. but
amt eatin' no dawg.'
"T said dawg.' says Paul, still a-try-
In to say duck
az know you did, says Jim, and
| then they clinched. Jim he broke his
knife off, and the Dutchman soaked
him with beer mallet But. Mandy,
says Jim to me jest before he shet his
eyes. I die content That there fel-
low was the sweetest cuttin' man
ever did cut in all my life. He was
Jest like a ripe pumpkin Say, there
was a man for you, was Jim. You
look some like him."
"You compliment me very much, Mrs.
McGovern." said.
"Say," she responded. 81 got 1000
head O. hawgs runnin' around in the
timber down there In Pike"
At the moment / did not see the
yelled tenderness of this speech, but
| thought of nothing better than to tell
her that was going no farther up the
river than Fort Leavenworth
"And may be a widder almost any
day now: somebody IL shore kill Dan
ny CaIkins fore long," was Mandy's
| final hint
| We were running in the dark before
the rising of the moon. thing eau
tious steamboat men would not have
ventured, when some time toward
midnight there came slight shock. a
| grating slide and a rasping crash of
wood. With a forward churning of
| her paddles which sent water high
along the rail the River Belle shud-
dered and lay still, her engines throb-
bing and groaning.
/ Joined the rush to the bows and,
leaning over, saw that we were hard
aground at the lower end OF sand
bar. Imbedded in this bar was long
white snag. tree trunk whose naked
arms. thrusting far downstream, bad
literally impaled us. The upper wood
work of the boat was pierced quite
through. and, for all that one could
| tell at the moment. the hull below
the line was in all likelihood similarly
crushed.
! Sudden disaster usually brings sud
den calm, the pause before resolution
or resignation. Running down the
companionway, found myself among
crowd of excited deckhands. most
Of whom, with many Of the passen-
gers. were pushing toward tie star
board rail. whence could be seen the
gloom Of the forest along shore. The
! gangway door on the opposite side Of
the boat was open. I spfang out
and. making good my holN upon the
nearest limb as l plunged, found my
Self standing in not more thah four
feet of water. the foot Of the bar evi
IDENTIFY running down well under the
boat. As / turned to call to Others !
saw the tall figure of my plainsman,
Auberry, take flying leap, and he join
/ ed me on the snag. Its better here
than there" he said. IF she sinks or