Sioux County pioneer. (Fort Yates, Sioux County, N.D.) 1914-1929, 1919-07-10
CHAPTER vl-continued.

II can't afford to give you that
Theodore ~
"Td die for dat" he declared.
"Take this handkerchief instead ~
but, meanwhile, my eyes were open
ing. "Take this instead, Theodore" ]
suggested.
I'D die for dat" he repeated, touch
ing the tie.
His voice and touch made me sick
and afraid, just as people in lunatic
asylum make one afraid. F
"LoOk QUIT" murmured Tom at nv
elbow.
And Just then I noticed hiding in
some bushes of seven-year apple trees,
two faces had good reason to know.
had barely time to pull out the
coIpmandant's revolver from my
pocket. knew 1t was to be either
the pockmarked genius or the engi-
neer. But for the moment l was not
to be sure which one had hit. For,
NJ my gun went off, something. heavy
come down on my head, and for the
time was shut off from whatever else
was going on. ~. s.
(Which did hit. TOMB" were my
first words as ! came back to the
glory of the world; but I didn't say
them for a long time. and, from what
Tom told me, it was d wonder 1 ever
said them ut all.
\ ''There he is, sar," said Tom, point
ing to long, dark figure stretched
out near by. I'm afraid he's not the
man you were looking for"
"Poor fellow" said; it was George,
the engineer; I'm sorry-but l saw
the lnuzzlcs of their guns sticking out
Of the bush there. 1t was they or
me-" = $50
'.That no lie, sar, and If 1t hadn't
been for that suclin' fish's skin you
wouldn', be here now.''
ut didn't save me from pretty
good one on the head, Tom, did it?"
"No, sar, but that was just it-if
it hadn't been for that knock on the
head, pulling you down just that min
ute, that thar pockmarlled fellow
would have got you. AS it was, he
grazed your cheek and got one of his
own men killed by mistake-the very
fellow that hit you. There he is
over there" c @.c
"And who's that other, TOMB" I
asked, pointing to another dark figure
few yards away.
= "That's the captain, sar.''
~The captain? Oh, I'm sorry for
that. God knows Tn sorry for that"
eyes, sar, he was one of the finest
gentlemen I ever knowed was Cap
tain T0mllnson; brave man and a
good navigator. And Md taken pow
erful fancy to you, for when you got
that crack on the head he picked up
your gun and began blazing away, with
words should never have expected
from religious man. The others, ex-
cept our special friend" 3
Lets call him Tobias from now on,
Tom," interposed.
SWELL, him, sar, kept his nerve, but
che others ran for the boats as If the
devil was after them; but the cap
tain's gun was quicker, and only four
Of them got to the Susan B. The other
two fell on their faces, as IL some
thing had tripped them up, in couple
of feet Of water. But just then Tobias
hit the captain in tho heart; ah! If
only he had one of those slkins-but he
always laughed off such things as su-
perstitiOus.
There was only me and Tobias
then, and the dog. for the engineer
boy had gone on his knees to the su-
ran b. Fellows at the first crack, and
begged them to take him away with
them. There was no one left but To.
bias and the dog and me. and I was
sure my end was not far OF, for ! was
never much Of q shot. p
d .s.Ass God Is my witness, sar, I was
s1eAdy to die. and there was q moment
when i thought thai the time had
some sbut Tobias suddenly walked
sway 70 the 3tsp Of the blur and