The daily Alaskan., 1917-07-13
An Effective
 introduction
By ALAN HlNSDAE

There are persons who have known each other by sight for years and never a word spoken between them because they have never been introduced On the other hand, there arc those who, under some strong emotion, have at first meeting rushed into each others arms. This is a story Illustrating the latter feature.
 Jim Conover, plainsman, aged twenty Ave, long of limb, with a countenanee frank and fearless, was riding through a wood on one of the foothills of the Rocky mountains. A rife was slung from one side of his saddlebow and a lasso from the other.
 Suddenly he refined in his horse and, sitting stock still, listened. He had heard a shot.
 This was in the days when the In- dian still inhabited the plains, when hundreds of thousands of bufaloeS led in huge droves.
 There was little variety on the plains in those days, and Conover knew that If the shot had not been fired at buf- | falo 1t had been intended for either a white man or an Indian. He had no ! Idea of showing himself to either party till he learned the situation. Dlsmount- | Ing, he left his horse to nibble while be skulked, shielding himself behind trees, in the direction of the sound. | Presently he reached the edge of the wood, and, looking down on to the l open, he saw a wagon, behind which | huddled a man, woman and half dozen youngsters, the oldest being a girl just entering womanhood. Be yond, hiding behind a rock or a bush OF any inequality In the ground, were Indians. ConoYer saw several and judged that there were something like | half a dozen in all.
 How was COnover to save them2 Save them he must, but without some stratagem his single rife would not suffice. But he had that one rife and a fair stock of ammunition. His pres ence was as yet unknown to either par. ty. How could he make himself dan ger to the Indians and encourage the whites?
 An Indian rose from out of a bush and ran swiftly, intending to take GOV CT nearer to the wagon. Conover had brought his rife to a ready and shot the redskin on the wing. The shot pro duced a change both In the Indians and the besieged party, the former sticking closer to their protecting objects, the latter vainly looking to see where the bullet that killed the Indian had come from. One thing they knew-it was from a friend.
 Conovers quick eye, which was dart ing about him for advantageous posi- tons, caught sight of tree some dis, tance to his right, the lower limbs of which were within his reach. Bending low and protected by bushes, be gained this tree and in a few seconds had reached the upper branches. Concealed by leaves, he had an excellent view of the Indians. He could see every one of them and counted ten. Taking de. | liberate aim, he sent q bullet at the one farthest in advance, and he rolled over dead.
 A shot from two different points put 1 consternation Into the Indians and hope into the whites. Conover sent several shots among the Indians, kill Ing or wounding one with every shot; then, descending quickly to the ground and taking a different position, he fired again, though this time, not see Ing an Indian, his shot was without effect.
 There were now half dozen Indians n the attacking party, and the prob lem for them was not how to get for ward, but how to get away without being picked off by this new enemy. The father of the white family, having evidence that he was being assisted by an unseen force, took courage and used his rifle to advantage-not that he killed any Indians, for they were GOV cred, but that they were obliged to con slider him as an effective enemy.
 Conover kept on firing at the Indians, l but never from the same point One shot would be sent from under a low bush, the next from the branch of a tree thirty feet from the ground. The shots from above were the only ones that were effective.
 Thinking to take last shot from treetop where he could see his target, Conover saw from his perch that sev- eral new men had joined the Indians ard they were all grouped together in conference, some of them looking up to where he was as though in doubt as to his being as dangerous an enemy as l he appeared. Ccnovcr's rife was of long range, and he fired a ball right into the group. This startled them, and another shot quickly following the first put them on the run.
 Conover now believed that the fight was over and If not he could work to better advantage with his allies, so he went down and joined them.
 How many of yOn are thereT asked