Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1915-10-22

White, the pOSSum uuutcr VI 1SAne
soc. as he got his pipe alight one even
Ing on the doorsteps. "Mebbe the wust
critter of the lot was named Tom
Smith. He didn't hev no family, but
,est sorter hung around at the co'ners.
He was powerful on the brag, but he
conld fight fur all that, and bimeby
everybody got skeered o. him. He went
ohout with a chip on his shoulder and
blood In his eye till sum men moved
away to git cl'ar O. him. Fur sun
reason he didn't bother me fur a long
time, but one day when | went down
tn the co'ners to sell sun possum pelts
Tom was outer sorts and opened on
me. He looks at me a long time with
q glare in his eye. Then he throws
down his hat and jumps on 1t and
yells:
".Whoopee! Zeb White, behold the
umper from Jumpersvillel I'll bet my
rifle agin them possum pelts l kin out
lump yo' by six inches If 20 ar a
man with legs under yo' cum out and
try on me!
81 seed he was trxin' to pick a quar-
rel" said Zeb. "and so I talked soft to
him and tried to git away.
81 was In mighty pore health" ex-
planned Zeb, land no match fur SIGH a
man, and SO I had to crawfsh. Ev-
erybody said l orter shoot him down.
but l couldn't shed blood that way. 1t
hurts me to this day to remember that
I went home like a whipped cur, leavin'
that critter crow v me, but my mind
was made up to tackle him as oon as
I felt like a man ag'in. When l got
home l was cryin', and the old woman
SEE to me, SEE she:
"'Zeb, has the wah broke out ag'in?'
mo
"'Then what's the matterY'
"'I'ye bin bluffed.'
"D'ye mean that Tom Smith has
crowed over yo'T
""That's jest what he has, and I'm so
pesky weak In the knees that I had to
git away from him.
"'Jest backed yo' down. did hep
HE did. It's the fust time In my
life l ever craw1shed fur any human
critter.'
"'Reckon it is, Zeb. ! knows how yo'
feel. But yo' couldn't help it. If yo'
tackled him he'd hev broke 20 In two.
I'll go right at it and nurse yo' up,
and In fo' weeks yo'n be ftten to whop
Tom Smith till he can't boot. If yo'
hain't, I'll put on yo'r clothes and
whop him myself
II felt better arter that" said Zeb,
though I couldn't get over the hurt to
my feern's- One %evenin', about two
weeks arter the fuss and when | was
gainin' on 1t, but not feelin' much bet
ter, l was sittin' right yere when /
cotched sight of a bar across the road
by them rocks. Plenty Of bars around
we're them days, as nobody had been
home to kill 'em off. About the time
/ cotched sight of the bar Tom Smith
showed up. Tom saw me a-sittin'
yere, and he stopped right by that
tree and throwed down his hat and
yelled, 'Zeb White, ar that yo' a-sot-
tin tharT
at arr
"Do yo' call yo'self a manT
mot a well q If YOU gin me
TO- weeks mo- I'll run yo' outer the
kentry.'
WAL" sighed the old man. "he
talked that way till 1 got mad and riz
up to go, but jest as / did 81 that bar
waltzed acros the road on his hind
feet and fetched him a cuff which
Knocked him ten feet. Tom thought
I'd got out thar without his seem me,
and he was tickled to death as he riz
up and went fur the bier. We heard
him sayin':
"zeb White, I said yo' wasn't a
man, but l take 1t all back. / didn't
believe yo'd stand up to me, and my
heart was nigh breakin'.'
i reckon Tom must hev bin half
drunk not to know q bar from a man,
but he thought it was me fur shore,
and he soon had a surprise party on
hand. The bar didn't seem hankerin'
arter meat, but he did want sum fun.
The bar knocked him down and rolled
MIN about a dozen times, and he got
many a good lick In on the bar, but
at length the fout was over. and Tom
smith was a whopped man. He hol-
Tered out that he'd got plenty, and I
reckon it was the anne with the bar,
as he suddenly made off into the
woods. When Tom got owe bein'
dazed he got up and said to me:
"'Zeb White, I'm a-beggin' Of yo'r
pardin. l thought yo' was a coward
and dasn't stand up to me, but yo've
whopped me in a fair foutr"
WAS he badly used upT' 1 asked, as
the story seemed to be finished.
He hadn't skassly a bit O. clothin'
left on him." replied Zeb, land he was
bruises and bites and claw marks from
mead to heel. I reckon he might hev
got well from them, but his heart was
broke. He knowed I was In poor
health, and when he realized that he'd
DIN W1OnDo1 hu n cf0lx man ho k0OK "a