Iron County news. [volume] (Hurley, Wis.) 1913-1950, 1915-01-09

field?"
The boy laughed. ooh. hit amt
nothin' pertic1er," he treasured. "Hit
haint nothin' fer a gal ter fret herself
erbout. only l kinder suspicious
strangers jest now"
Air the truce busted?" She put the
question in a tense. deep breathed
whisper. and the boy replied casually.
| almost indifferently.
No. Sally, hit hain't jest ter say
busted, but pears like hits right
smart cracked. l reckon, though" he
added in half-disgust, "nothin' won't
come of hit"
Somewhat treasured. she bethought
herself again of her mission.
This here furriner hain't got no
harm in him, Samson" she pleaded.
He pears ter be more like gal than
a man. He's real puny. He's got
white skin and bow of ribbon on
his neck-an' he paints pictchers.
The boys face had been hardening
with contempt as the description ad-
vanced, but at the last words a glow
came to his eyes. and he demanded
almost breathlessly:
Paints pictchers? How do We know
that?"
Il seen EN-. He was paintin' one
when he fell often the rock and busted
his arm. It's shore es beautiful es-"
she broke off, then added with a sud-
den peal of laughter-"es err FLETCHER"
The young man slipped down from
the fence, and reached for the rife
The hoe he left where it stood.
I'll git the nag" he announced
briefly, and swung off without further
parley toward the curling spiral of
smoke that marked a cabin a quarter
OF mile below. Ten minutes later
his bare feet swung against the ribs
Of a gray mule and his rife lay bal
anced across the unsaddled withers
Sally sat mountain fashion behind
him, facing straight to the side
So they came along the creek bed
and into the sight of the MAJ who
still sat propped against the messy
rock AS Lescott looked up he closed
the case of his watch and put it back
into his pocket with a smile.
"Snappy work, that!" he called out.
Just thirty-three minutes. l didn't
believe 1t could be done
Samson's face was masklike, but
as he surveyed the foreigner, only the
ingrained dictates of the country's
hospitable code kept out of his eyes
CLEAN Of scorn for this frail mem
Der of a sex which should be stalwart.
"Howdy?" he said. Then he added
suspiciously: What mout yer bust
ness be in these parts, Stranger"
LescOtt gave the Odyssey Of his wan
derings, since he had rented a mule
at Hixon and ridden through the coun-
try, sketching where the mood prompt
ed and sleeping wherever he found
hospita0le roof at the coming of the
evening
"Ye come from over on Cripple
shin ?" The boy flashed the question
with a sudden hardening of the voice,
and, when he was afirmatively ans
swered, his eyes contracted and bored
searchingly into the strangers face.
"Where'd We put up lt.st night?"
Red Bill Hollman's house, at the
| mouth Of Meeting House fork; do you
know the placer"
Samson's reply was curt
Il knows hit all right"
There was a moments pause
rather an awkward pause. Lescotts
| mind began piecing together frag-
ments of conversation he had heard.
until he had assembled a sort OF men
tai jigsaw puzzle.
The South-Hollman feud had been
mentioned by the more talkatiye Of
his informers, and carefully tabooed
by others-notable among them his
| host OF last night. II now dawned on
/ him that he was crossing the boun-
Holman to ask the hospitality OF a
! South.
| 81 didn't know whose house 1t was"
/ he fastened to explain, until | was
benighted and asked for lodging. They
were very kind to me I'd never seen
| them before. I'm stranger here
abouts."
/ samson Only iONNSu II lHG GA pidud-
ton failed to satisfy him. it at least
( seemed to do So
81 reckon ye'd better let me holp
We up on tibet old mule" he said;
hits a-comin' on ter be night"
/ With the mountaineer's aid. Lescott
clambered astride the mount. then he
| turned obviously.
I'm sorry to trouble you" he ven
tured, but have a paint box and
some materials up there. If youn
bring them down here. I'll show you
1 how to pack the easel, and. by the
way" he anxiously added. please
to handle that fresh canvas carefully
/ by the edge-it's not dry yet.
He had anticipated impatient con-
/ tempt for his artists impedimenta.
/ but to his surprise the mountain boy
climbed the rock and halted before
/ the sketch with a face that slowly
/ softened to an expression of amazed
admiration. Finally he took up the
-rv,ora oP 900 5a-,v hos ri with a ton.