The Tabor independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1913-19??, 1913-10-23

OIQ Man captain was out
the path and chanting 1t h south's
lost legions. t,I
And all about camp and over the
bayou when there was moss to bale or
crabs to catch, one heard It tinkle,
tinkle, dnklei So that the towboat
niggers gave him the name that stuck
thereafter: Captain Tinkletoes."
Old Man Captain did not mind: he
smiled vaguely. These days he was
he started the old heroic tale OF how
the child should lead 'em. a number
or extraneous matters got mixed with
|it--pirate treasure and alligator hunt
ing and the weather, so that Aurelia,
at times, couldn't make out just what
was expected OF her, only 1t was very
big and important. A.
deer hunt int the swarnps FAR to the
east among nameless waterways
through O dying forest, she stood up In
the pirogue n pointed at q trail OF
smoke miles away over q bit OF shim-
mering marsh. a
Uncle Michigan. what's that way
That's a big beat come way ovss
the ocean a-goln' to the cityi"
Where I come frcm?"
II done reckon 30. And up beyoHd
NAwlyns the river goes and goes
states and lands and countries, all with
music names. Aurelia, for I done spsL
some Of 'em u on the map"
She regarded him seriously. and then
Amt I ever goin' to learn all them
music names. Uncle Michigan And
amt I w gotn' see all them lands
and states and countries2" e
Uncle Michigan looked at Captain
Tinkletoes. small and frai1 and gray.
bumped against the fambeau box
and he took Aurelie,s hand and whis-
pered: Yea u airl One o. these
days when Old Man Captain SUR
renders" 49,.
And after that, in another year OF
the colorful ~slow-movtng life Of the
bayou-the lugger men and trapper
men and drtfters and moss pickers,
going continually VI the river to the
north. while she watched merely the
drift Of the hltes with the tides-Au-
relic came to wonder what the world
was. She asked Captain Tinkletoes
when he was going to surrender. and
said: When you grow up to occupy
the landi"
Always that. She asked Uncle
Michigan to explain, and he took her in
his arms and mumbled. You're lead
in 'em, .Aurelie. Leadin' two ole fool
soldiers to the promised and o. hap
piness-right yere!"
So from the first she knew love, an
amazing ana protecting love. And
again, Michigan took down the old
red-backed map which was one Of his
treasures.
"Yere she be, Aurelie, flowin' from all
the land. From all the states and
mountains the little brooks run into the
big ones, and the big ones run on from
the ozaxfss and Rockies and Ane-
ghanies-Platte and Tennessee and
Ohio and Mtssoury-down they come
seal"
Michigan, I'd like T. see all them
places"
Eyes, siri When Captain Tinkletoes,
he surrenders9"
Is. She puzzled more over that as she
sat by the lily boom and watched the
baby sharks play underneath the flow
ers and the gient gars steal in and out.
She twisted the purple spikes Of hya-
at her brown little face. Then she
clapped her hands and pointed Off to
the north. II belong of there!
Where all the states and mountains
come from! Done goin' up to occupy
the IandI"
And n day Captain Tinkletoes sur
rendered. Not dramatically, leading
the old gray lines and shouting, but
just piteously and without purpose. as
great dreams and In life. Hogtaw and
Doc Fortune found him when they
were tie cutting In the swamp. His
pirogue was upturned, and Captain
Tinkletoes was under It In the black
water. Auroite remembered when they
brought him into camp-how the
bayou men smoked and talked ana
drank their coffee. Etienne, the crab
boat man, wanted TO go fetch q priest
from English Turn. but Michigan
reckoned not. They would take him
up to Spanish Mans Point, where often
the two had dug for treasure around
the pirates grave. And there they laid
him and the great dream, q little
blanketed heap, down in the white
shells over which the gay little lizards
scampered, while the hooking birds
sang in the green cane at his head.
Aurelie, holding the Indian woman's
hand, heard her little bell ttnkle when
the black men shoveled in the shells.
Michigan took OF his battered hat
and looked about.
Done surrendered! And yere's me
that follered him for 40 year: and
yere's the Bta woman that did the
cook1n'. And yes the little girl he loved
and that made two old fool swampers
quit their wanderin' and settle down.
Done surrendered to God and laid his
ole gray head to rest!"
Continued next week. h'