The Washington herald., 1915-10-03

side. All we see is the outside. bet
you on the inside. blind"
Done" says the Kid. "And 7
hope you win, for i kinder aot .
warm warm spot, in spite of my nature, for
MISS Belinda What in the name of
Moses she sees in Fergy is hid from
wants him. him for her"
1t looked like a lost bet for two
weeks, and then come little Billy
Black to the rescue. First off. il loot.
ed like we lost little Billy Black. That
would have been a sad day on our
ranch l tell you, honest, l don't think
a man OF US could have born. stav.
ing on the ranch if the kiddv had
been killed, Well, the play come m
!ike TINS. wed had a sweltering, rot
ten, melting, oozy, Eastern dav that
wound up about two o'clock with an
approaching thunder storm. All
hands were lying around st;cLv
sweating and miserable, WAITING So
the fuss to come and blow the Inuek
away. -'u'N
Un6eknownst to US, Billy sims or,
with his brand new drawings and -
brand new slieker, to 20 over to Eer.
guson's: And. as mighty GOOD irat
would have it, Belinda was -, L.s
way from Zeke's shack. to oct so-..
SODA tor the wife, who was always
SICK TO her stomach in thundrou.
weatner. Ihat got a highly capable
person on the scene.
Well, the squall broke like a bor,h
she'll. Here she comes a-roaring nd
the wind with punch behind II. Tohn
L. Sullivanee style. A"
1t sent Belinda, husky wom,,
though she was, into the side of Fer
gusons tent. a-fying. As Fergy come
out, they both see poor little BiIiv
black, with his nice drawings undcr
one arm, and his nice new slicker
grabbed in the other hand, headed for
one OF them cussed Chantay Seech.
sink holes, and the wind dustinp hin,
straight into it at a gallon. I landed
into one of them water trans on
night and / was almost drownded
before help came. They were i'll.
wells, with banks of straight slinnrrw
mud that wouldn't even allow va,
finger grip. Once in there. II was ali
over with little Billy Black. bar b.In
handy and able.
The plucky little kid wouldn't LET
60 of his drawings nor his slicker
he was an lnjun, and he PLAYED II
win all or lose all.
That iunk-head of Ferguson lust
stood there, paralyzed, but BeIinda
took one look, shucked her umbrella
and her skirts, and after the kid she
pelts. 4essir! without a seconds hest
tatIon, although she told me after
ward my yarn was clear in her MEM
ory at the time.
Kerplash! Goes Billy Black and
Ksrspiash! Again. goes Belinda.
What with the bowling, tearing wind,
the flashes of lightning that seemed
to turn the whole world inside out,
the banging and hammering of the
thunder and the sudsing and 1oun-
derlng in the creek, it was something
OF performance. Belinda could
swim with one hand and write a poem
with t'other, so she managed to keen
both afoat. Meantime, Fergy had
gone loco altogether. 1t weren't that
ne was scarf, but Jared witless. He
couldn't swim a stroke, SO for him to
Jump in would only have made one
more to drown. He parts with his
common sense and yells "Help! and
Police" There weren't much help
IN sight, and positively no police. But
the mercy of Providence had sent old
Leke a-hunting for Belinda. Them
arms of his made short work of land
ing the pair.
There's Billy Black still holding m
to the slicker, but mourning the min
of his lovely drawings, and Belinda
IN rig not quite the thing for after
noon wear. but nobody really the
worse.
Realizing what a hummux we'd he
IN when we missed the kid, Zeke
grabs him up and pelts over to our
ranch.
Believe me, there was a fuss when
our Youngest was restored to US! We
had just missed him and were getting
wild-eyed, when Zeke landed.
There's fool notion that Iniuns
never show any feeling. l wish the
geezer responsible for that idee could
have seen Toon-yeh's face when he
caught up his little boy! 1t wasn't
tears, but tears are only salt water
at the best. The spark that grew in
~ iiioii Ooiht-Out eyes was thing
I'll never forget. The rest of us was
a bit looney, too, till Billy, disgust
ed with so much excitement, and pet
ting and damning, for we did cuss
him with joyful hearts, creeps under
a bunk till the disturbance quits.
After things quisted down and Zeke
had told the story of Belinda and
gone. Toon-yeh comes to me.
Red, says he, Belinda, she good
woman. / make marry? l work hard
for that one. She save Billy"
l looks at him minute and thinks
she mi ght do worse, when old Windy
chips in. Il don't reekon," saws he.
that Toon-yeh's lookin' for a mon,
opoly. Spose we make it unammer-
ous?"
Count me in!" says the Kid.
I'm on!" says George.
LET her go!" says the rest, and
I'm still! speechless.
Whats the matter with you, Red~
says Windy. "Ain't welchin'. are
you! That was a game play for a
lady, and looks to me like she orter
get her pick of the bunch"
! woke up with snap. my mark
er's on, says /. "But who's to tell
her all this?"
"You" says they.
So that afternoon, before the grass
was dry, l slides over to Zeke's
house, dressed in my best. and offers