The Mellette County pioneer. [volume] (Wood, Mellette County, S.D.) 19??-1971, 1919-02-28

hO
"Blast my headlights, IL it amt a
poor dogl Come alongside mate,
you're on a lee shore, and In q sorry
plight"
Oh, what a relief those words were
to us!
With the candle In one hand and a
dark object under his arm, Bin re-
turned and deposited In our midst the
sorriest-looking specimen Of q cur dog
you ever set eyes on. 1t was so weak
II couldn't stand. But that look In It's
eyes-just gratitude, plain gratitude.
It's stump Of q tail was pounding
against my mess tin, and sounded just
like q message in the Morse code. Hap
by swore that it was sending S. o. S.
We were like a lot Of school chill
dren, every n wanting to help and
making suggestions at the same time.
Hungry suggested giving it something
to eat, while key wanted to play on
his inferpal jew's-harp, claiming 1t was
a musical dog. Hungry's suggestion
met our approval, and there was a
general scramble for haversacks. All
we could muster was some hard bread
and a big piece Of cheese.
His nlbs wouldn't eat bread, and also
refused the cheese, but not before sniff
fing at it for a couple Of minutes. /
was going to throw the cheese away,
but Hungry said he would take 1t. /
gave it to him.
We were In a quandary. It was evil
dent that the dog was starving and in
a very weak condition. It's Goa was
lacerated all over, probably from the
bites of rats. That stump Of q tail
kept sending s. o. s. against my mess
tin. Every tap went straight to our
hearts. We would get something. to
eat for that mutt If we were shot for
1t.
Sailor Bill volunteered to burglar
lie the quartermaster's stores for a
can Of u~nsweetened condensed milk,
and left on his p%erilous venture. He
was gone about twenty minutes. Dur
ing his absence, with the help Of a
bandage and q capsule Of iodine, we
cleaned the wounds made by the rats.
/ have bandaged many a wounded
Tommy, but never received the amount
Of thanks that that dog gave with its
eyes.
Then the billet door opened and Sail
or Bill appeared. He looked like the
wreck Of the Hesperus, uniform torn,
covered with dirt and -four, and a
beautiful black eye, but he vas smil-
ing, and in his hand he carried the
precious can of milk. We asked no
questions, but opened the al Just as
we were going to pour it out Happy
butted in and said 1t should be mixed
with water he ought to know, because
his sister back in Blighty had a baby,
and she always mixed water with it's
milk. We could not dispute this evil
dence, SO water was demanded. We
would not use the water I'm Our water
bottles, as 1t was not fresh enough
for our new mate. Happy volunteered
to get some from the well, that is, IL
we would promise not to feed his royal
highness until he returned. We prom
ised, because Happy had proved that
he was an authority on the feeding Of
babies. BY this time the rest of the
section were awake and were crowd
ing around us, asking numerous ques-
tons and admiring u newly found
friend. Sailor Bill took this %OppOrtun-
ity to tell Of his adventures while in
quest of the milk.
81 had q fair wind, and the passage
was good until 1 came alongside the
| quarterrnaster's shack, then the sea
| got rough. When / got aboard / could
hear the wind blowing through the
rigging Of the s%upercargo (quartermas-
ter sergeant snoring), so l vas safe.
/ set my course due north to the ra-
ton hold, ana got my graphing irons
ON q cask of milk, and came about on
my AFOREMENTIONED passage, but
| something was amiss with my wheel,
because l ran nose on into him, caught
him on the rail, amidships. Then 1T
was repel boarders, and 1t started to
blow big guns. His first shot put out
my starboard light, and l keeled over.
/ was in the trough of the sea, but
soon righted, and hen it was a stern
chase, with me In the lead. Getting in
to the open sea, ! made a port tack
and hove to in this cove with the
milk safely In tow"
Most of us didn't know what he was
talking about, but surmised that he
had got into a mixup with the quarter
master sergeant. This surmise proved
correct.
Just as Bill finished his narration a
loud splash was heard, and Happy's
voice came to US. 1t sounded very far
off:
"Help, I'm In the well! Hurry up,
/ can't swim! Then q few unintelli-
gible words intermixed with blub !!
blub and no more.
We ran to the well and away
down we could hear an awful splash
sc~ Cotyc- Rtu vouaA Ioup sV cck