The Oakley herald. [volume] (Oakley, Idaho) 1908-1961, 1921-12-30

cornmeal was the same. In view o.
the results 1 wondered If Bullertor
hadn't shrewdly calculated upon wash
ing our commlssary out of existence
when he planned his overgrown lawn
sprinkler. But maybe that was giving
him credit for more ingenuity than he
really had.
Through what remained of the after
noon the rifle firing continued, coming
sometimes from one angle and some'
times from another, but always can
nlly from a safe distance and always
under cover of the surrounding forest,
Daddy Hiram, grimly optimistic, ex-
tracted a swallow or so of encourage
ment out of the persistent ~pot-shoot-
ing.
Dunno as you've eve noticed 1t,
Stannie, but If you'll only let a hog
alone long enough he'll shove himself
under the bob-wire fence far enough
to get caught" he said. Charley Bull
lerton, now; he's plum forgot that
'Tropia's less n five miles away and
that sound carries mighty long dis
tances In these mountains In clear
weather."
"What difference does hat maker"
l asked.
1T may make a heap o. difference.
Looks to mi like somebody-Buddy
Fuller, r Jim Haggerty, the section
boss, r some of 'em down yonder ID
begin a-wonderin', after a spell, what
In tarnation all this here blastin' and
ri1e-poppin' up on old Cinnabar Is a
pfntin' at and come and see"
do you think the racket will carry
that far?"
ut sure will. One night afore Trio
pia had gone as dead as she is now, a
bunch o. cowpunch's got into an argy-
ment at Blue-nose Bill's place and we
heard the crackin' and poppin' up
here-Jeanie and me-like it was just
over yonder in Greaser gulch."
"Well?" said /, "if your nephew or
any Of the others hear 1t, what Them"
AS I asked the question n Of the
low-aimed shots tore through the side
of the building, struck the iron frame
of the hoist, fattened itself and
dropped Into the old mans lap. Pick
ing up the hot bit of lead to dandle
1t from hand to hand he went on much
as If picking up bullets. that were fired
at him had been his daily recreation.
Curiosity killed the cat, Stanine,
son. You let some one o. the folks
down yonder In 'Tropia say, BY gol-
wonder what all that shootin's forT
and the next thing you know, ome
body7l be moggin' up here to find out"
Along about dusk some member Of
the besieging party tried to make a re-
connaissance. happened to be keeping
the lookout on the cabin side of our
and saw q mar lodging among
the pines back of the house. When /
reported to Daddy he took a snap shot
1t the place 1 pointed out to him and
here was a wild yell and a stir in the
yeung pines as though a hog were gal
oping through them.
"Just to let 'em know that we're
IT'LL alive and kickin'," said the old
nan, with another Of his Quavery
HuChleS. TtChOu uldlDt ludl . |
What they was amin to find out"
Possibly 1t was. At all events, the
life fire stopped with the coming of
darkness, and as we faced our second
light Of defense we had plenty Of time
0 sit around and think and speculate
Ipon what the outcome IA going to
'e.
Taking 1t all In all, 1t was the fan
astic humor of the thing that hit me
ardest. Six short weeks earlier peo-
lie at home had been calling me all
he hard names that fall to the lot of
he idle ne'er-do-well; a young chap
18th enough inheritance money to keep
i'm In ties and shoes and shirts and
0 buy gas for his car-though that
lst asked for a good bit on the rising
ost of gasoline-and not enough to
lake life, or anything connected there
very much worth while.
Also these same people were saying
behind my back, of course, but there
ere always plenty Of them to repeat
he saying to my face-that l vas
God stock gone to seed, would never
to a hill Of beans In anything
lat asked for initiative or
or primitive rough stuff of any
)rt that / was due to go on dolling
yself up and playing skittles to the
i'd Of the chapter-which would prob
by stage itself In an asylum for the
,eble-minded. Also, again, at that
ime time. which was six weeks-or
thousand years-ago, l was en-
ICED to Lisette; with mighty little
of marrying her, to be sure,
1t with no thought Of marrying any
,dy else.
And now I looked around at
e shadowy walls of the grim old Gin
abar s~haft-house, looming darkiy and
i'll dripping. tick, tack, from their /
lriy-afternoon mud bath felt my sog- c
clothes; stared eros at Daddy
IRAN sitting backed up against the 8
with his legs jackknifed and his c
Inds locked over his knees; 1t was a t
otesque pfpe-dream; there was no |
her name for 1t. I broke out in a C
ugh that was a below. [
sc,It+ - ,p Ctopnfa ~ ,,rval fha or1 1;