The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1913-10-16
CHARLES HNNTYJ ACKSON

land!' How'd you find him, Michigan?
Did he done come right out o. a cloud
O. glory Z"
Michigan pushed aside the mosquito
bars under the palm thatch where a
tiny fire hickered in the clay furnace
He famed 1t with his hat and the child
grayely watched one old man and then
the other. One was tall and the other
short, but each had lost a leg. The
two brass bands shone valiantly. She
smiled out of her dark-eyed, thin little
face which had looked upon much brief
change and Indifference in q meager
little life and was not given to whiin-
pering.
Wasn't no cloud 2 glory answered
MT get hold Of a child anywhere till
along come a lot of orphans with them
convent sisters. And I see the littlest
one and just then the sisters got fius-
tered with all the Mardy Graws blow
in horns and yellin'-"
Done know'd i'll" crowed Old Man
Captain delightedly. "a cloud o. glory
or some excitement"
"Old Man Captain, I got to tell you
something. I grabbed the lttlest one
with the little blue pants: but we
made an awful mistaken"
"Huccome mistake, Michigan?"
She's a grill"
Old Man Captain looked fearfully at
Aurel1e in the gloom OF the falling
night. g on. now" he murmured,
go on, now!"
How could 1 tell when she had on
them little blue pants? Just like a boy,
Old Man! And we got way down In
the swamps before I found OUT
Old Man Captain could hardly whis-
per. He peered at his partner doubt
fully; "Huccome you find out, Michi-
gam"
Michigan was more terribly embar-
raised h he a been since the sur
render. His pink cheeks burned, while
his partner pulled his own white beard
~nervously: "Huccome. Michigan,
gasped Old Man Captain.
Oh, well, equtvocated Michigan, II
see a little chain with a silver cross
hangin' about her neck under her
dress. so I just got to peekin' roundl''
Old Mar Captain was terribly
shocked. He spat off in the swamp as
he squatted by the fire. The serpent
had entered Eden. In Is years of wan
dering they had their first dilemma.
"How's a girl goin' to lead 'em r. asked
Old Man Captain ~mournfully.
Michigan raised his ayes with a great
idea. who said a girl c%ouldn't2 Reck-
on nothin' was said in your revelation
about 1t betn' a boy? 1t just said
child!"
Old Man Captain stared. The great
idea was too big for aim. The mosqui-
toes were drifting In with their night
fan singsong, n when they bit Au-
relic she whimpe1ed, and her dark eyes
sought Old Man Captains appealingly.
She put out a trustful hand to touch
his wooden leg. That was too much.
He smiled. She crawled over and pat
ted Michigan's wooden leg. The two
shy old swampers laughed together.
We done got a baby, Michigan!"
We done have, Old Man! All along
o. yore crazy notions! You wouldn't let
me alone till 1 go to N'Awlyns and get
a child to bring up"
Want no crazy notion. It was re-
vealed to me, I done tell you. But I
reckon 1t didn't say 1t had to be a
boy exactly"
well. Old Man, if we keep this girl
we got to quit driftin' round the
swamps. Nc more ~bush-cattin' upriver
when the big waters comm, or turf
lin down the lakes, or diggin' up the
shells for pirates hide-ups. No, sir-if
we keep her we got to stay right here
like we was a family"
Old Man Captain stared again. This
was a sudden turning of the long road
of romance. Thirty years he and Mich
igan had fished and seined and trapped
and drifted logs and ~prospected pirates
treasure from Grand Isle to Butte LIE.
Rose, and this was the first time fate
had put a finger across the path. He
rubbed his head. "Reckon so, Bein' a
girl, I reckon so!''
Got to stay right yere," pursued
Michigan relentlessly, and make a
home and get a woman"
"a woman?" That was too much.
Old Man Captain was dismayed.
Yes sir. How's two old fool John
niles like you and me goin' to raise her
to be a lady IL we amt got a woman?"
Now you begin to raise problems
when I thought everything was ca'am,"
quavefed his partner.
well, how's she goin' to lead 'em IL
she amt raised to be a lady7"
Old Man Captain could not answer.
II reckon" he mur1nured. "Only yere's
you n me hung together year in and
out since the surrender, and every
Christmas, Michigan, I white out q
new leg for you and you white out
one for me, n larry a word o. VIM
min. Twenty-etght legs we cut out for
a other, and nary q word o. vim
mini"
"Well, we're we are" retorted Michigan
helplessly, got to nave a woman. Meb-
be we can get one of the Chino VIM
men from the platforms, or mebbe we
a get the Bia Woman"
Continued next week.