The Elk Mountain pilot. [volume] (Irwin, (Ruby Camp), Gunnison County, Colo.) 1880-19??, 1919-08-07

by golly! =" suddenly exclaimed Dor
is from where she stood by the win
dow, "if that job doesn't end soon
there won't be clam left In the
cove!"
"Doris!" came the reproachful voice
of her mother. please don't use such
unladylike words"
WON'T" responded the irrepressible
Doris. 'I'm dying for some CLANS, and
those laborers laying the new gas
pipes are just digging them all up be-
fore get look-in."
"But they are busy putting in the
pipes. aren't they, dear?" mildly quer-
led Doris mother. "How can they dig
CLAIMS at the same timer"
"oh. they're Just stalling on the job.
mother. waiting for some more pipe.
The little foreman told me SO yester-
day. Meanwhile they're Just digging
up all the CLANS"
Doris" the mother again started to
demonstrate with her lively young
daughter. but as often happened. that
same daughter took the words from
her mouth. II know. mother. what
you're going to say-'Please don't go
around talking to that strange young
man. You needn't worry. i've only
seen one worth speaking to since we
came-and he was claiming. too.
Came from over across the cove some
where. Got a lot. too. II he'd had
any decency he'd have offered me
some. Goodness knows 1 limited broad
ly enough"
The little mother remarked In a re-
signed tone: HE thought you were
a child. probably. with your bobbed
hair and that short, red skirt"
IT should worry what he thought:
he's some country clam himself"
Doris replied. laughingly. All the
same. wish my boots would arrive.
II was so stupid of us to forget them"
Then speculntively: 'That-wate-'s too
cold to go into barelegged."
II should say So" the mother made
hnste to reply. Doris. don't you
think of such thing"
"No. mother. won't" dutifully
spoke the daughter. busily scheming In
her impatient young hend some way
Of getting over those cham fats. where
at the moment several Italians were
industriously digging.
Now, Mrs Dart. Doris mother. Ind
prposely omitted packing those boots.
She had rather guilty feeling all day.
rs Doris watched for the parcels post.
This clever, up-to-date young dnuch-
ter was rather beyond the old-fashioned
mother.
She was proud of her. Of course. for
didn't that same cieverness enable
Doris to "hold up the government al
the rate Of thirty-nve per. with
months vacation" a. Doris herself ex-
pressed 1T
And didn't that weekly thirty-nve
make possible the yearly vacations at
the Shore. even II sometimes they had
to come at an unheard-of early datef
But oh dear II the child would only
care about clothes like other girls and
not insist en- bobbing her hair with
the ridiculous excuse that It saved
time.
And then those awful understand
boots-that she insisted on wearing out
fishing and claiming! But Mrs. Dart
preferred not to think about them.
Doris was q wizard at finding n way
out Of a dilemma. Probably that was
why she succeeded so well In business.
The only way out of her present one.
she decided, was over a bridge farthe.
Up the cove.
This bridge had been started with a
flourish by some bunko amusement
company and finished In dzzle. 1t
lacked five feet Of reaching the fiat Is
land in the center of the cove. But
on that island were clams-that could
be gotten at without the aid Of boots.
So on the following day. no boots
having arrived and low tide coincid-
ing with her mothers rest hour, Doris
got into the obnoxious knickers and.
armed with short-handled hoe and
bag, walked over the unfinished bridge,
took a flying downward leap-and
there she was!
The clans were plentiful. This was
place the laborers had not hit upon.
Doris dug and dug. and the tide crcpt
lip and up. Clam digging Is a time
consuming work so when the bag was
nearly filed the strenuous young lady
was relieved to find by glance at her
watch that It was not quite time for
her mothers nap to be over. But at
the bridge she found. somewhat to her
aismay. ten feet Of water. shallow to
be sure, but growing deeper every mo-
ment between the low shore and the
much higher end of the bridge.
"TIme and tide" quoted Doris. rue
fully. as she started bravely through
It. The water was knee deep when
she managed to throw the bag up onto
the bridge: but getting herself up was
quite another proposition. The sand
was soft and her feet sank into 1t.
Doris didn't give mp easily once she
started to do a thing. but when her